Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

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ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Asset Retirement Obligation [Abstract]  
ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS
NOTE 12 - ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS
The following is a summary of our asset retirement obligations:
(In Millions)
September 30,
2021		 December 31,
2020
Asset retirement obligations1
$ 392  $ 342 
Less: current portion 25  7 
Long-term asset retirement obligations $ 367  $ 335 
1 Includes $236 million and $190 million related to our active operations as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.
The accrued closure obligation provides for contractual and legal obligations related to our indefinitely idled and closed operations and for the eventual closure of our active operations. The closure date for each of our active mine sites was determined based on the exhaustion date of the remaining mineral reserves, and the amortization of the related asset and accretion of the liability is recognized over the estimated mine lives. The closure date and expected timing of the capital requirements to meet our obligations for our indefinitely idled or closed mines is determined based on the unique circumstances of each property. For indefinitely idled or closed mines, the accretion of the liability is recognized over the anticipated timing of remediation. As the majority of our asset retirement obligations at our steelmaking operations have indeterminate settlement dates, asset retirement obligations have been recorded at present values using estimated ranges of the economic lives of the underlying assets.
The following is a roll forward of our asset retirement obligation liability:
(In Millions)
2021 2020
Asset retirement obligation as of January 1 $ 342  $ 165 
Increase from acquisitions 57  17 
Accretion expense 13  8 
Remediation payments (20) (4)
Asset retirement obligation as of September 30 $ 392  $ 186 
The increase from acquisitions for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 relates to measurement period adjustments as a result of the preliminary purchase price allocation of the AM USA Transaction.