PROPERTY, PLANT, AND EQUIPMENT

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

4. PROPERTY, PLANT, AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant, and equipment were as follows:

	December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010
Land and land improvements	$	37,101		$	37,346
Building and leasehold improvements		188,201			181,985
Machinery, equipment, and other		1,330,275			1,244,153
Construction-in-progress		31,955			38,640
Property, plant, and equipment, gross		1,587,532			1,502,124
Accumulated depreciation		(652,833	)		(529,413	)
Property, plant, and equipment, net	$	934,699		$	972,711

Depreciation expense for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $130.5 million. This includes $7.1 million of accelerated depreciation of property, plant, and equipment over a reduced remaining useful life due to the permanent shutdown of three paper machines, which is presented in Restructuring and other charges on the consolidated statements of operations. Depreciation expense was $124.9 million and $125.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2010, and 2009 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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