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

-- DEP Settlement With CNX For E&S Violations In Greene, Washington Counties Yields $180,000 Streambank, Fish Habitat Project

-- DEP Reaches Settlement With CNX On Well Plugging Violations At 141 Conventional Coalbed Methane & Gas Wells, 5 Unconventional Gas Wells In 4 Southwest Counties

-- CNX Gas Company Pays $250,000 Penalty For Marchland 3 Pipeline Violations In Indiana County

-- DEP Assesses CNX Gas Drilling $433,500 For Violations In Greene County

-- CNX Gas Pays $450K In Penalties For Washington County Water Withdrawal Violations

NewsClip:

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: CNX Resources Lays Out Appalachia First Vision For Economic Growth

Related Articles - Health & Environmental Impacts:

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: We've Got Enough Compelling Evidence To Enact Health Protective Policies For Families Now - By Edward C. Ketyer, M.D., President, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: When It Started, It Was Kind Of Nice, But What Happened Afterwards Really Kind Of Devastated Our Community - By Rev. Wesley Silva, former Council President Marianna Borough, Washington County  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Economically, Socially Deprived Areas In PA Have A Much Greater Chance Of Having Oil & Gas Waste Disposed In Their Communities - By Joan Casey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Living Near Oil & Gas Facilities Means Higher Health Risks, The Closer You Live, The Higher The Risk - By Nicole Deziel PhD MHS, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- DEP: PA Fracking Operations Sent Nearly 236,000 Cubic Feet Of Radioactive TENORM Waste To Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facilities For Disposal In 2021 - 811,070 since 2016  [PaEN]

-- Study: Industry Data Shows Hazardous Air Pollutants Are ‘Ubiquitous’ In The Natural Gas Transmission System; More Justification For Robust Leak Prevention Programs  [PaEN]

-- Dramatic Video From Carnegie Mellon’s Project Breathe Shows Shell Ethane Plant In Beaver County Flaring Natural Gas Due To Malfunction  [PaEN]

-- DEP Has Ordered A ‘Top To Bottom Review’ Of How It Regulates Underground Natural Gas Storage Areas As A Result Of The Equitrans Gas Leak In Cambria County In Nov.  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: Setback Distances And The Regulations We Need To Protect Public Health From Oil & Gas Facilities [PaEN]

-- UPDATED: After 14 Days, Efforts To Stop A Natural Gas Leak At A Cambria County Underground Gas Storage Area Have Apparently Been Successful  [PaEN] 

-- Penn State Study: Potential Pollution Caused By Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Makes It Unsuitable For A Dust Suppressant, Washes Right Off The Road Into The Ditch  [PaEN]

-- DEP Lists 84 Townships As ‘Waste Facilities’ Where Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Has Been Disposed Of By Road Spreading; Municipalities Need To Do Their Due Diligence [PaEN]

-- On-Site Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Waste Disposal Plans Making Hundreds Of Drilling Sites Waste Dumps [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Dispose Of Drill Cuttings By ‘Dusting’ - Blowing Them On The Ground, And In The Air Around Drill Sites  [PaEN]

-- Creating New Brownfields: Oil & Gas Well Drillers Notified DEP They Are Cleaning Up Soil & Water Contaminated With Chemicals Harmful To Human Health, Aquatic Life At 272 Locations In PA [PaEN]

-- Gov. Wolf, Senate, House Republicans Again Fail To Hold Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Accountable For Protecting The Environment, Taxpayers On Hook For Billions [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: PA Politicians Capitalizing On Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine To Benefit Natural Gas Industry - By Lauren M. Williams, Esq., Greenworks Law & Consulting LLC  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Reported Spreading 977,671 Gallons Of Untreated Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads In 2021  [PaEN]

-- NO SPECIAL PROTECTION: The Exceptional Value Loyalsock Creek In Lycoming County Is Dammed And Damned - Video Dispatch From The Loyalsock - By Barb Jarmoska, Keep It Wild PA [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Releases 4th Watershed Oil & Gas Drilling Impact Analysis In Susquehanna River Basin - Towanda & Schrader Creek Watersheds  [PaEN] 

-- FracTracker Alliance: Lycoming Creek Watershed Oil & Gas Drilling Impact Analysis In Lycoming County  [PaEN]

-- Rare Eastern Hellbender Habitat In Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming County Harmed By Sediment Plumes From Pipeline Crossings, Shale Gas Drilling Water Withdrawal Construction Projects  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued NOVs To Conventional Oil & Gas Companies For Abandoning 55 Wells Without Plugging Them During September Alone, A Dramatic Increase In New Well Abandonments  [PaEN]

-- Republican Chair Of House Environmental Committee Believes Opponents Of Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects ‘Just Need To Be Ignored And Politically Ran Over’ [PaEN]

Related Articles - Current Oil & Gas Water Supply Impacts:

-- AG Shapiro: Coterra Energy, Formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, Pleads No Contest To 15 Criminal Charges Related To Polluting Water Supplies In Dimock, Susquehanna County

-- Center For Coalfield Justice Holds First Water Distribution Day Nov. 19 To Help Provide Families Drinking Water In Greene County Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site In June  [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land  [PaEN]

Related Articles - Major Oil & Gas Criminal/Monetary Penalties Last 2 Years:

-- House Committee Fails To Address $70 Million In Penalties On Natural Gas Pipelines Or Real Concerns Of People Living Near Gas Production & Distribution Facilities

-- AG Shapiro: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Convicted Of Criminal Charges Related To Construction Of Mariner East 2 & Revolution Natural Gas/Liquids Pipelines In PA

-- AG Shapiro: Coterra Energy, Formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, Pleads No Contest To 15 Criminal Charges Related To Polluting Water Supplies In Dimock, Susquehanna County

-- Sunoco/Mariner East Pipeline To Pay $4 Million In Damages And Restore Lake At Marsh Creek State Park Polluted By A Spill In Chester County

-- Federal Court Approves DEP, EPA, DOJ Settlement With Chesapeake Appalachia For Failure To Identify, Protect Wetlands At 76 Gas Well Drilling Sites, $1.9 Million Penalty

-- PUC Imposes $1 Million Penalty On Energy Transfer Company For 2018 Revolution Pipeline Explosion In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $497,000, Fish & Boat Commission Collects $25,855 In Penalties For Latest Violations Involving Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction In Lebanon County

-- DEP: Range Resources Pays $294,000 Penalty For Delaying The Plugging Of 42 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In 8 Counties

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

-- DEP: Olympus Energy Natural Gas Driller Fined $175,000 For Water Quality Violations In Allegheny County

-- DEP Collects $147,250 Penalty From Rice Drilling B LLC For Erosion & Sedimentation Violations In Greene County; DEP Found Rice Had Hundreds Of Other Violations, Including Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them

-- DEP Collects $140,000 Penalty From ETC Northeast Field Services For Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Order Requires Payment Of $125,000 Penalty For Latest Revolution Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Violations In Beaver County

-- DEP Collects $85,000 Penalty For Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction Violations In Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, Lebanon Counties

-- AP: PUC Judge: Sunoco/Energy Transfer Failed To Protect Delaware County Community During Construction Of Mariner East Pipeline, $51,000 Penalty Proposed

-- AG Shapiro: Southeast Directional Drilling Pleads Guilty To Contaminating Water Supply In Washington County, To Pay $15,000 Fine

Related Articles This Week:

-- Better Path Coalition: 65 Organizations, Businesses, 2,700+ Individuals Petition Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Ban Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- Associated Press: DEP Lifts Ban On Shale Gas Drilling Under Dimock, Susquehanna County, The Same Day Coterra Energy Pleaded No Contest To Criminal Charges For Polluting Water Supplies; Residents -- ‘We Got Played’  [PaEN]

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: PA Natural Gas Prices Rise [94.7%] As Production Falls, Report Says 

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Shale Gas History: Spying & Psychological Operations On PA Citizens 2010-14

-- Bob Donnan Blog: 12 Articles On The Real History Of Shale Gas Development In PA As Told By The Families and Communities That Experienced It

[Posted: December 12, 2022]  PA Environment Digest