**Exhibit 12.1**

 

**Statement of Computation of Ratio of Earnings to FixedCharges (1)**

 
| ** **                          | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | ** **         | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | ** ** | **Nine Months  Ended  September 30** | ** ** |
|-------------------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|--------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|--------------------------------------|------------|
| ** **                          | ** ** | **2000**   | ** ** | **2001**   | ** ** | **2002**           | ** ** | **2003**   | ** ** | **2004**   | ** ** | **2005**                             | ** ** |
|                                |       |       |       |       |       | **(in thousands)** |       |       |       |       |       |
| **Earnings**                        |       |       |       |       |       |               |       |       |       |       |       |                                 |       |
| Income From Continuing Operations * |       | 65,951     |       | 92,533     |       | 105,882            |       | 104,958    |       | 115,347    |       | 100,737                              |       |
| Fixed Charges                       |       | 51,062     |       | 68,217     |       | 73,381             |       | 93,294     |       | 80,695     |       | 68,639                               |       |
| Distributed Income of               |       |       |       |       |       |               |       |       |       |       |       |                                 |       |
| Equity Investment                   |       | —     |       | 40,800     |       | 30,938             |       | 28,003     |       | 47,213     |       | 28,178                               |       |
| Capitalized Interest                |       | (4,559     | )          | (4,000     | )          | (4,345             | )          | (5,290     | )          | (4,227     | )          | (4,562                               | )          |
| Total Earnings                      |       | 112,454    |       | 197,550    |       | 205,856            |       | 220,965    |       | 239,028    |       | 192,992                              |       |
|                                |       |       |       |       |       |               |       |       |       |       |       |                                 |       |
| **Fixed Charges**                   |       |       |       |       |       |               |       |       |       |       |       |                                 |       |
| Interest Expense                    |       | 44,423     |       | 62,057     |       | 66,192             |       | 84,250     |       | 72,053     |       | 60,640                               |       |
| Capitalized Interest                |       | 4,559      |       | 4,000      |       | 4,345              |       | 5,290      |       | 4,227      |       | 4,562                                |       |
| Rental Interest Factor              |       | 2,080      |       | 2,160      |       | 2,844              |       | 3,754      |       | 4,415      |       | 3,437                                |       |
| Total Fixed Charges                 |       | 51,062     |       | 68,217     |       | 73,381             |       | 93,294     |       | 80,695     |       | 68,639                               |       |
|                                |       |       |       |       |       |               |       |       |       |       |       |                                 |       |
| **Ratio: Earnings / Fixed Charges** |       | 2.20       |       | 2.90       |       | 2.81               |       | 2.37       |       | 2.96       |       | 2.81                                 |       |

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*  Excludes minority interest,extraordinary loss, gain on sale of assets and undistributed equity earnings.

 

(1)          Amounts presented for the years 2000 through 2004 havebeen modified from previous presentations. The differencebetween the current presentation and previous presentations is notgreater than 0.11 for any given year.

 

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