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Income Tax Expense (Tables) | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2012
Income Tax Expense [Abstract] |
Income Tax Expense [Table Text Block] |
|  | Quarter Ended |  | Nine Months Ended
|  | September 30, |  | September 30,
|  | 2012 |  | 2011 |  | 2012 |  | 2011
Millions |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Current Tax Expense |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Federal (a) |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
State (a) |  | — |  |  | $(0.1) |  | — |  |  |  | $0.1 |
Total Current Tax Expense (Benefit) |  | — |  |  | (0.1 | ) |  | — |  |  | 0.1 |
Deferred Tax Expense (Benefit) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Federal (b) |  |  | $10.5 |  |  | 8.5 |  |  |  | $24.2 |  |  | 19.3 |
State (b) |  | (0.7 | ) |  | 4.5 |  |  | (1.9 | ) |  | 6.0 |
Change in Valuation Allowance (c) |  | 0.7 |  |  | — |  |  | 1.7 |  |  | — |
Investment Tax Credit Amortization |  | (0.2 | ) |  | (0.2 | ) |  | (0.6 | ) |  | (0.7 | )
Total Deferred Tax Expense |  | 10.3 |  |  | 12.8 |  |  | 23.4 |  |  | 24.6 |
Total Income Tax Expense |  |  | $10.3 |  |  |  | $12.7 |  |  |  | $23.4 |  |  |  | $24.7 |
(a) | For the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012, the federal and state current tax expense of zero and zero, respectively, ($(0.1) million and $0.1 million for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2011) is due to a net operating loss (NOL) which resulted primarily from the bonus depreciation provision of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. The 2012 and 2011 federal and state NOLs will be carried forward to offset future taxable income.
(b) | For the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012, the state deferred tax benefit of $0.7 million and $1.9 million, respectively, is due to state renewable tax credits earned which will be carried forward to offset future state tax expense. The nine months ended September 30, 2011, included a second quarter income tax benefit of $2.9 million related to the MPUC approval of our request to defer the retail portion of the tax charge taken in 2010 resulting from the PPACA, and a first quarter benefit for the reversal of a $6.2 million deferred tax liability related to a revenue receivable that Minnesota Power agreed to forgo as part of a stipulation and settlement agreement in its 2010 rate case.
(c) | For the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012, the valuation allowance is due to state renewable tax credits earned in 2012 which are not expected to be utilized within their allowable tax carryforward period.

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the components of income tax expense attributable to continuing operations for each year presented including, but not limited to: current tax expense (benefit), deferred tax expense (benefit), investment tax credits, government grants, the benefits of operating loss carryforwards, tax expense that results from allocating certain tax benefits either directly to contributed capital or to reduce goodwill or other noncurrent intangible assets of an acquired entity, adjustments of a deferred tax liability or asset for enacted changes in tax laws or rates or a change in the tax status of the entity, and adjustments of the beginning-of-the-year balances of a valuation allowance because of a change in circumstances that causes a change in judgment about the realizability of the related deferred tax asset in future years. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32639-109319 + Details
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