Pension Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Pension Benefits

Pension Benefits

11. Pension Benefits

We froze our pension plan effective March 31, 2006, pursuant to which most participants no longer earned future pension benefits.  Effective February 16, 2009, the remaining participants in the pension plan no longer earned future benefits.  The following table summarizes our pension costs during the three-month periods ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 (in thousands):

	Three months ended March 31,
	2013			2012
Service cost	$	287		$	288
Interest cost	2,230			2,307
Expected return on plan assets	(3,069		)	(2,746		)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	202			166
Total net periodic cost	$	(350	)	$	15

Weighted-Average Assumptions Used To Determine Net Cost

	Three months ended March 31,
	2013		2012
Discount rate	3.850	%	4.300	%
Rate of compensation increase	N/A		N/A
Expected return on plan assets	7.500	%	7.500	%

Employer Contributions

During the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, we made pension contributions of $1.5 million and $1.1 million, respectively.