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Investments | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2012
Investments [Abstract] |
Investments [Text Block] | INVESTMENTS Investments. Our long-term investment portfolio includes the real estate assets of ALLETE Properties, debt and equity securities consisting primarily of securities held to fund employee benefits and land available-for-sale in Minnesota.
Investments | March 31, 2012 |  | December 31, 2011
Millions |  |  |
ALLETE Properties | $91.3 |  | $91.3
Available-for-sale Securities | 27.7 |  | 24.7
Other | 16.7 |  | 16.3
Total Investments | $135.7 |  | $132.3
ALLETE Properties | March 31, 2012 |  |  | December 31, 2011 |
Millions |  |  |
Land Inventory Beginning Balance (January 1, 2012 and 2011, respectively) | $86.0 |  | $86.0
Deeds to Collateralized Property | — |  |  | 1.8
Land Impairment | — |  |  | (1.7 | )
Capitalized Improvements and Other | 0.1 |  |  | 0.2
Cost of Real Estate Sold | — |  |  | (0.3 | )
Land Inventory Ending Balance | 86.1 |  | 86.0 |
Long-Term Finance Receivables (net of allowances of $0.6 and $0.6) | 2.0 |  | 2.0
Other | 3.2 |  | 3.3
Total Real Estate Assets | $91.3 |  | $91.3
Land Inventory. Land inventory is accounted for as held for use and is recorded at cost, unless the carrying value is determined not to be recoverable in accordance with the accounting standards for property, plant and equipment, in which case the land inventory is written down to fair value. Land values are reviewed for impairment on a quarterly basis and no impairments were recorded for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 ($1.7 million as of December 31, 2011). In the fourth quarter of 2011, an impairment analysis of estimated future undiscounted cash flows was conducted and indicated that the cash flows were not adequate to recover the carrying basis of certain properties not strategic to our three major development projects. Consequently, we reduced the cost basis to estimated fair value resulting in a pretax impairment charge of $1.7 million. Fair value was determined based on property tax assessed values, discounted cash flow analysis, or a combination thereof. Long-Term Finance Receivables. As of March 31, 2012, long-term finance receivables were $2.0 million net of allowance ($2.0 million net of allowance as of December 31, 2011). Long-term finance receivables are collateralized by property sold, accrue interest at market-based rates and are net of an allowance for doubtful accounts. As of March 31, 2012, we had allowance for doubtful accounts of $0.6 million ($0.6 million as of December 31, 2011).

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- Definition The entire disclosure for investments, including all tables. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Article 12 + Details
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