PA Environment Digest

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CNX Unveils Appalachia-Focused Vision For The Future, Promoting New Natural Gas Development, Use - ‘Produce It Here. Use It Here - First’

On December 12, CNX Resources Corp. launched "Appalachia First," its vision for the future which draws on the company's regional leadership, core operational strengths, and innovative business model with the tagline-- “Produce It Here. Use It Here - First.”

As the region's premier low carbon intensive natural gas development, technology, and applications company, CNX is uniquely positioned to help revolutionize Appalachia, one of the world's most energy abundant regions, into an energy, manufacturing, and technology hub of the future.

CNX President and CEO Nick DeIuliis said, "The nation and world are waking up to stark energy realities: energy scarcity, deterioration of our power grid, and energy inflation stoking wider inflation. Policy often relies too heavily on applications such as wind, solar, and electric vehicles that can present large life cycle carbon footprints, require supply chains stretching thousands of miles, are costly, and face serious challenges when scaling in regions like Appalachia. If we don't get energy and climate policies right, our economic competitiveness will be stifled, the environment will be worse off, and we will end up enabling our adversaries to wage war and forcing leaders to negotiate energy supplies from dictators and despots."

Mr. DeIuliis continued, "There is a better, simpler, and more logical way. Appalachia can be the launchpad to a more efficient and sustainable future catalyzed by lower carbon intensity natural gas. This proud region and its people should be the solution to deliver reliable and affordable energy – our region's abundant energy resources can and must be used more effectively to prioritize the improvement of the human condition, the environment, the nation, and the world. In other words, put our local communities first and watch what happens. We believe the strategic approaches integrated throughout this vision represent a clear roadmap to transform key sectors of our economy and workforce while also changing the world for the better."

Specifically, Appalachia First is rooted in three key objectives:

-- Leverage CNX’s and Appalachia’s natural gas opportunity by bolstering all sectors of the economy through lower-cost, lower-carbon, and locally produced natural gas.

-- As one of the largest, most efficient, and environmentally sustainable sources of natural gas in the world, Appalachia (consisting of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia) are equipped with the tools to lead the sustainable revolution touching all sectors of the economy – including energy, manufacturing, technology, and transportation.

-- Develop and deploy a new wave of innovative technologies and enhance local communities by using natural gas product derivatives for vertical market growth.

-- Combined with new technology and derivative products, natural gas catalyzes a more sustainable future. CNX and Appalachia can fuel new industrial and manufacturing growth through local natural gas derivatives by:

-- Using proprietary technology to change manufacturing processes for the extraction and delivery of natural gas.

-- Capturing and converting GHG into sustainable products and applications.

-- Jumpstarting the local hydrogen economy.

-- Transform the sectors of aviation, plastics, rail, cargo, mass transit, trucking, and fleet and passenger vehicles by displacing higher carbon fuels with locally produced natural gas.

-- The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and a net exporter of petroleum and natural gas products, but we still import a lot of foreign oil that can be supplanted with CNG and LNG to transform the region’s hard-to-abate sectors.

"From our founding more than 150 years ago, CNX has a rich history of innovating and bringing new technologies to market to meet the evolving energy needs of Appalachia and the world," said CNX President of New Technologies Ravi Srivastava. "This strategy – focused on sustainably creating new local jobs and economic activity – embodies our mission of delivering benefits that are Tangible, Impactful, and Local."

Click Here for the full Appalachia first plan is available.

Headquartered just outside of Pittsburgh, CNX Resources Corp. is a leading Marcellus and Utica Shale producer with operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

As part of the company's sustainable business model and commitment to ESG excellence as well as shareholder value creation, CNX has made strategic investments in alternative fuel ventures as well as workforce development training, sustainable manufacturing, advanced methane abatement practices, and expanded its flagship partnership with the Pittsburgh International Airport.

The Big Picture

To properly analyze any energy plan, you have to look at the big picture and beyond the economic benefits-- what health and environmental impacts does energy development require, how have energy companies complied with environmental and other requirements, what infrastructure needs to be constructed in much more.

Here a snapshot of some of these issues from previous PA Environment Digest articles.

You be the judge.

CNX Compliance Record

CNX Gas Company has been assessed $1,998,500 in major penalties by DEP for major environmental violations in Pennsylvania in the last six years. [See list below]

In 2019, DEP signed a settlement agreement that required CNX to plug 141 conventional coalbed methane and gas wells and five unconventional gas wells in Allegheny, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. [Read more here]

According to DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database, CNX Gas Company also received over 1,000 notices of violation from DEP since January 1, 2016. The violations include--

-- Failure to plug wells after abandoning them

-- Failure to prevent discharge of wastes into streams

-- Failure to collect and dispose of drilling brine properly

-- Failure to obtain a permit for residual waste processing facilities

-- Failure to dispose of fluids, residual waste properly

-- Failure to meet well casing standards

-- Failure to comply with erosion and sedimentation plan & regulations

-- Failure to submit well mechanical integrity reports

Related Articles - CNX Penalties:

-- DEP Assesses $200,000 In Penalties For Drilling Wastewater Spills By CNX In Greene County

-- DEP: CNX Gas Company Agrees To Pay $175,000 Penalty For Uncontrolled Methane Leaks At The Shaw Well In Westmoreland County

-- DEP: CNX Gas Pays $310,000 Penalty For Violations During, After Pipeline Construction In Washington County