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CONSOL Energy

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This is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's climate change project.

This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of CoalSwarm and the Center for Media and Democracy.

CONSOL Energy is a major U.S. energy corporation which produces coal, gas and electricity. On its website it states that it has also "expanded the use of its vast property holdings by brokering various industrial and retail development projects and overseeing timber sale and forestry management activities both in the U.S. and abroad."[1]

CONSOL Energy operates 17 coal mines and produced 67.4 million tonnes in the 2006 calendar year. The bulk of the coal produced in 2006 came from operations in West Virginia (31 million tonnes) and Pennsylvania (24.4 million tonnes) with smaller volumes from Virgina (5.7 million tonnes) and Kentucky (4.9 million tonnes).[1] CONSOL also produced 1.1 million tonnes from a mine in Utah and 300,000 tonnes from an operation in Ohio. Approximately 97% of the coal produced by CONSOL Energy was from underground mines.

In the coal mining lobby donated $10,423,347 to members of Congress. Of that, the top three major contributors included Arch Coal, CONSOL Energy and Peabody Energy.[2]

Contents

CONSOL cuts back on coal production

In March 2009, CONSOL placed its Mine 84 in Washington on what it terms "long term idle" status, laying off about 275 employees. The company also reduced the hours worked at its Buchanan mine in northern West Virginia and has lowered a 2009 production target to 3.1 million tons for the mine, about three-fourths of its total capacity. Vice President Thomas Hoffman said, "We're basically throttling back."[3]

The reductions stem from a dramatic reversal of industry trends. After surging in 2007 and most of 2008, the demand and pricing for coal collapsed in the last quarter of 2008.[3]

In August 2009, CONSOL CEO J. Brett Harvey said the entire coal industry needed to slow production until existing inventory could be depleted. Harvey said that coal prices have gone down as the economy has slowed demand, and that stockpiled coal inventory will need to be burned before prices can rebound. To adjust to the reduced demand, CONSOL lowered its expected production levels for 2009 to 58 million tons.[4]

CONSOL idling mines in West Virginia

In December 2009, CONSOL announced it was idling two mines in West Virginia that employ about 500 people. Chief Operating Officer Nicholas DeIuliis blamed environmental activists for the closures, saying that "the nation's energy industries are coming under repeated assault from nuisance lawsuits and appeals of environmental regulations." The two mines affected are the Little Eagle Coal Co. mine and the Fola Coal Co. mine. In a lawsuit brought by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), a federal judge suspended CONSOL's Clean Water Act permit for part of the operations. Without these operations, CONSOL said it was unable to meet the requirements of its coal sales contracts. Jane Keating, executive director of OVEC, said that CONSOL's accusations of blame were misplaced and that "miners should be asking the companies to follow the law."[5]

On December 28, 2009, U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers changed his ruling to allow CONSOL to continue mining at the sites while the legal dispute over the company's fill permits continues. In his latest order, Chambers noted that OVEC did not oppose the decision.[6]

Protests against CONSOL

March 26, 2009: DC Rising Tide disrupts CTL conference in Washington, DC

Activists with DC Rising Tide interrupted an industry conference to denounce coal-to-liquids technologies. The protesters stood in the audience and gave loud speeches refuting the statements of executives from Chevron, CONSOL Energy, World Coal Institute, and World Petroleum Council. Displaying banners including "Coal kills" and "Renewable energy now," the activists called for an end to fossil fuels and for adoption of clean, renewable energy sources.[7]

Court finds Army Corps of Engineers violated Clean Water Act in MTR permitting case

On November 24, 2009, U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated federal environmental laws by issuing permits for two mountaintop removal coal mines in West Virginia without allowing sufficient public involvement. Chambers found that the Corps violated the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act when it issued permits for CONSOL's Ike Fork mines and Penn Virginia's Nellis mine. Chambers ordered the Corps to rectify the problem with the permits, while also allowing "limited" mining to continue at the sites for 60 days. The case may have implications for other surface mines already permitted and in operation. According to Oliver Bernstein of the Sierra Club, "Most of the pending permits in West Virginia may need to go back through the public process."[8]

Coal Projects Sponsored by CONSOL

Cancelled

CONSOL Energy Mines

Contact Details

CONSOL Energy Inc.
CNX Center
1000 Consol Energy Drive
Canonsburg, PA 15317-6506
Phone: 724-485-4000
Website: http://www.consolenergy.com/

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 CONSOL Energy, "About CONSOL Energy", CONSOL Energy website, accessed June 2008.
  2. ↑ "Coal Mining: Long-Term Contribution Trends" OpenSecrets.org, accessed January 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Elwin Green, "Burning out: Coal prices come back to earth," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 18, 2009.
  4. ↑ "CONSOL CEO Says Coal Industry Needs to Slow Production," WVNS, August 9, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Consol idling two mines, blames environmentalists," Reuters, December 8, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Fed. Judge Allows Coal Company to Continue Mining," Associated Press, December 30, 2009.
  7. ↑ "DC Rising Tide Disrupts Coal-to-Liquids Conference," It's Getting Hot in Here, March 26, 2009.
  8. ↑ Jim Thuber, "Judge sides with environmental groups in coal case," Associated Press, November 25, 2009.

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