Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

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Pension and Other Post-retirement Benefits

Pensions and Other Post-retirement Benefits

The following table presents the components of net periodic pension cost for the Company’s pension plans for the three month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2012			2011
Service cost	$	—		$	55
Interest cost	5,349			5,616
Expected return on plan assets	(6,767		)	(6,924		)
Amortization of prior service cost	10			16
Amortization of actuarial loss	2,020			$	2,362
	$	612		$	1,125

The actuarial loss occurred principally because the investment returns on the assets of the WHX Pension Plan have been lower than the actuarial assumptions. In 2011, the unrecognized actuarial gains or losses were amortized over the average future service years of active participants in the WHX Pension Plan, which was approximately 10 years. Beginning in 2012, the actuarial losses will be amortized over the average future lifetime of the participants, which is expected to be approximately 21 years, a longer period than previously used. The Company believes that the future lifetime of the participants is more appropriate because the WHX Pension Plan is now completely inactive.

In addition to its pension plans which are included in the table above, the Company also maintains several other post-retirement benefit plans covering certain of its employees and retirees.  The approximate aggregate expense for these plans was $0.5 million for each of the three month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.