Striving To Be Responsible Stewards
Fueling the world for a better tomorrow
At CONSOL Energy, we strive to be the most responsible coal company in the world. Excellence is our goal, and we endeavor to operate our business in a manner that meets the expectations of our employees, neighbors, regulators and stockholders. Our approach to sustainability is underscored by our dedication to compliance, ethical business practices, and the communities where we live and work.
We believe long-term utilization of our high-Btu coal is essential in the quest to expand access to affordable and reliable electricity throughout the world. We are committed to employing technology and innovation across our operations that will further enhance employee safety, reduce our environmental footprint, increase operational efficiencies, and support continued coal production into the future.
As a result of this unrelenting focus on our core values and a commitment to sustainability, CONSOL Energy is positioned to Fuel the World for a Better Tomorrow.
The Values that Power us Forward
CONSOL Energy is proud that we operate based on three core values and two strategic priorities: Safety, Compliance, Continuous Improvement, Production, and Cost.
Our core values are the foundation of the company’s identity and are the basis for how we manage and conduct our business activities. The evolution of CONSOL Energy’s core values began in 2006 with a third-party survey of employees. A senior management team convened in March 2007 to review the results, and the message was sobering: the company needed a revolutionary change in its safety culture. This launched the decoupling of safety functions from compliance functions. Safety must trump everything, and our Absolute ZERO program became our standard. Four initiatives were launched that revolutionized the safety performance and culture at CONSOL Energy.
These initiatives entailed a world-class training program; incentives and rewards to recognize safe conduct; the decoupling of safety from compliance; and the formation of a team to eliminate unsafe acts. These initiatives are living progressions of continuous improvement.
CONSOL Energy is not content with just being in compliance. Our desire to be world class drives us to identify policies and strategies to further our performance beyond compliance standards. CONSOL Energy is increasing its focus on environmental compliance to further improve our operations, and we are increasing our employee awareness through enhanced training and communication, proactively identifying best-in-class processes and methods in our operations, and improving our transparency with stakeholders through reporting of our annual performance. Best-in class performance that demonstrates our core values will directly translate to strong operations and financial results
CONSOL Energy has positioned itself as a top-tier environmental steward while successfully developing resources to supply national and global energy needs. We never stop identifying opportunities and implementing solutions that drive safety, production and utilization of our strategic resources in smarter, more efficient ways.
We strive to operate in an environmentally sound, reliable and efficient manner. Furthermore, we recognize that our environmental responsibilities go beyond those required under statutory obligations. That’s why we design and operate our business to exceed the expectations of our employees, communities, regulators and shareholders.
Minimizing Our Impact
In accordance with CONSOL Energy’s Environmental Policy, our project teams make a concerted effort to develop our assets in a manner that facilitates safe construction, ensures permit compliance, minimizes environmental impact, and promotes post-operational land use. Throughout all phases of operation, from project concept to site restoration, we consider protection of biodiversity and aquatic resources. Where impacts are unavoidable, we develop enhanced mitigation strategies subject to regulatory agency approval.
Protecting Water Resources
CONSOL Energy recognizes the inherent value of water resources and continues to focus on the responsible use and protection of this valuable natural resource. During mining, water is used for cooling the cutting surfaces of mining machinery, inhibiting friction-induced ignition, dust suppression and coal preparation. For these critical needs, we preferentially utilize recycled or treated water from other systems within our operations, as opposed to withdrawals from ground or surface sources.
After mining is complete, we operate our legacy water treatment facilities with the goals of minimizing waste generated through chemical treatment optimization, reducing the volume of water treated through minepool management, and limiting discharges to streams during natural periods of low flow.
Managing Air Quality
CONSOL Energy’s air quality management approach is based on maintaining full compliance with our air permits, accurately characterizing our emissions, and identifying opportunities to improve performance. Comprehensive analysis and disclosure of our emissions facilitate regulatory impact analysis, stakeholder dialogue and investigation of reduction strategies.
Our recent initiatives focus on conserving energy during operations and evaluating mine methane ventilation abatement technologies. We believe both programs will improve energy efficiency, control energy use, inform our investments and reduce emissions in support of continued, sustainable mining.
Restoring Our Land
CONSOL Energy’s operations make only temporary use of land and, after extraction activities conclude, restoration begins. In line with permit requirements, a detailed site reclamation plan is designed and approved by federal, state or local agencies. We believe that our land assets provide opportunities for the communities in which we operate, and as such, we design our reclamation plans with consultation from our key stakeholders. Our reclaimed properties are used in many ways for various benefits, including commercial, residential, agriculture, forestry, wildlife habitat and recreation. As a socially and environmentally responsible operator, and in accordance with our core values, it is our obligation to ensure beneficial use of our land for generations to come.
CONSOL Energy Environmental Policy
The safety and health of our employees and contractors, and full compliance with the laws and regulations that govern our businesses, are CONSOL’s top two core values. Therefore, we strive to conduct our operations to avoid adverse impacts to human health and to operate in an environmentally sound, reliable and efficient manner.
We are committed to continuously improving our environmental performance and have established objectives to:
- Continuously improve compliance within our operating permits
- Avoid, reduce or minimize the environmental footprint of our operations
- Maximize water reuse
- Reduce process air emissions
Our performance is monitored continuously and reported annually. Updates and corrections are made as business conditions warrant.
Forward Progress Sustainability Initiative:
A Natural Progression
Since our November 2017 spin-off to become an independent, stand-alone publicly traded coal company, CONSOL Energy has sought to lead the coal industry in sustainability. To date, CONSOL has begun or implemented innovative and industry-leading projects seeking to incorporate sustainability throughout the entire coal lifecycle: (1) Planning and Management; (2) Extraction; (3) Processing; (4) Transportation; and (5) Utilization.
Read how we are fueling the world for a better tomorrow in our 2023 Corporate Sustainability Report.
The CONSOL Cares mission is to improve and strengthen the communities in which CONSOL Energy operates to make them better places to live, work, and prosper by creating access to opportunities, and to strengthen their resilience and cohesion through focused giving to promote the health and safety of these communities.
