NOTE 11 – ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS

We had environmental and mine closure liabilities of $240.7 million and $235.7 million at March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively. The following is a summary of the obligations as of March 31, 2012 and the year ended December 31, 2011:

Mine Closure

Our mine closure obligations are for our four consolidated U.S. operating iron ore mines, our two Eastern Canadian operating iron ore mines, our six operating North American coal mines, our Asia Pacific operating iron ore mines, the coal mine at Sonoma and a closed operation formerly known as LTVSMC.

The accrued closure obligation for our active mining operations provides for contractual and legal obligations associated with the eventual closure of the mining operations. The accretion of the liability and amortization of the related asset is recognized over the estimated mine lives for each location. The following represents a rollforward of our asset retirement obligation liability related to our active mining locations for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and the year ended December 31, 2011: