Property, Plant, and Equipment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, plant, and equipment consist of the following (dollars in thousands):



	September 30, 2014			December 31, 2013
Land and land improvements	$	138,486		$	140,592
Buildings	645,173			628,948
Machinery and equipment	4,374,819			4,246,294
Construction in progress	253,150			168,808
Other	53,177			48,058
Property, plant, and equipment, at cost	5,464,805			5,232,700
Less accumulated depreciation	(2,646,672		)	(2,426,996		)
Property, plant, and equipment, net	$	2,818,133		$	2,805,704

Depreciation expense for the three months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, was $95.1 million and $42.4 million, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, depreciation expense was $264.1 million and $125.2 million, respectively. The increase in depreciation expense relates primarily to the acquisition of Boise in fourth quarter 2013, as well as accelerated depreciation related to shortening the useful lives of our newsprint-related assets at the DeRidder, Louisiana, mill. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, we recognized $18.2 million and $35.4 million, respectively, of incremental depreciation expense related to shortening the useful lives of our newsprint-related assets at the DeRidder, Louisiana, mill.

At September 30, 2014, purchases of property, plant, and equipment included in accounts payable was $49.6 million.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Includes, but is not limited to, accounting policies and methodology, roll forwards, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, including composite depreciation, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, useful lives and method used, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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