Property, Plant And Equipment

4. Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment consist of the following at December 31:


	2011			2010
Land	$	13,509		$	12,897
Building and improvements		135,049			129,881
Plant and equipment		2,039,050			1,963,186
Other		147,342			133,241

		2,334,950			2,239,205
Less: Accumulated depreciation		(1,196,845	)		(1,098,792	)

		1,138,105			1,140,413
Construction in progress		93,961			29,921

Property, plant and equipment, net	$	1,232,066		$	1,170,334

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment of $110,268, $105,744 and $100,333 is included in cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

The Company recorded asset impairment charges of $1,975 associated with the closure of its Springfield, Kentucky PVC pipe facility in June 2011. See Note 16 for more information.

The Company assessed certain of its Vinyls segment building products assets, with a carrying value of $100,049, for potential impairment in December 2011, and the Company's analysis concluded that these assets were not impaired. The future cash flows used to test the recoverability of these building products assets for the impairment analysis were calculated using an undiscounted cash flow methodology. The undiscounted cash flow projections were based on a 15-year forecast beginning in 2012, in order to reflect the estimated remaining useful lives of the assets. The forecast was based on sales volume trends and margins developed by management considering historical data. While the Company believes its estimates of undiscounted future cash flows used in performing the impairment test are appropriate, different assumptions regarding such cash flows could materially affect the evaluation. Under the undiscounted cash flow methodology, even if the future cash flows of the building products assets assessed for impairment decreased by 20%, they would not be impaired.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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