Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

5. Property, Plant and Equipment


	Useful lives	December 31,
	in years	2011		2010
	(In Thousands)

Machinery, equipment and automotive	3 - 30	$	239,322	$	217,539
Buildings and improvements	7 - 30		39,381		34,392
Furniture, fixtures and store equipment	3 - 10		5,926		5,952
Assets under capital leases	10		2,105		2,415
Land improvements	10		1,080		910
Construction in progress	N/A		23,714		9,549
Capital spare parts	N/A		7,407		5,577
Land	N/A		7,242		4,321

			326,177		280,655
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization			161,630		144,900

		$	164,547	$	135,755

Machinery, equipment and automotive primarily includes the categories of property and equipment and estimated useful lives as follows: chemical processing plants and plant infrastructure (15-30 years); production, fabrication, and assembly equipment (7-15 years); certain processing plant components (3-10 years); and trucks, automobiles, trailers, and other rolling stock (3-7 years). At December 31, 2011 and 2010, assets capitalized under capital leases consist of machinery and equipment. Accumulated amortization for assets capitalized under capital leases were $718,000 and $627,000 at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

- 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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