Consol Energy publishes 2012 Corporate Responsibility Report

PITTSBURGH, April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) today released its 2012 Corporate Responsibility Report, which outlines activities and new initiatives undertaken during the past year to support the company's efforts to meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) outlined in its inaugural 2011 report. 

"Though we are certainly not alone in our commitment to corporate responsibility, we are very proud to have been the first domestic coal or natural gas producer to develop such a report. In publishing our first report in 2011, our primary objective was to assist our customers, shareholders, employees, communities, elected officials, regulators and other stakeholders in better understanding our corporate responsibility goals and achievements," commented J. Brett Harvey, Chairman & CEO of CONSOL Energy. "In 2012, we continue to demonstrate the responsible business practices can coexist with energy production to deliver the fuel that drives economic growth and supports our quality of life, and that is reflected in this year's report. "

"CONSOL Energy broadened the 2012 report to include additional Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) principles and reported against additional Key Performance Metrics to continue our performance improvement," added Katharine Fredriksen, CONSOL Energy's Senior Vice President- Environmental Strategy and Regulatory Affairs.  "Looking forward, our short term strategic priorities are to continue to build on the "Absolute ZERO" program and to fully integrate the ZERO Accident culture into CONSOL Energy and its contractors.  We also expect to further improve compliance through setting ambitious targets and metrics suitable for our business and in line with our core values."

The following key accomplishments and program initiatives are among those included in the 2012 report:

Safety: 

In 2012, CONSOL Energy had its best safety year on record with an overall (coal and gas) incident rate of 1.30.  Notably, our Coal Division saw safety exceptions drop 11%, to 1.67 and miners at the Enlow Fork Mine worked over one million consecutive hours without incurring a lost time incident.  Further, the Gas Division again worked another year without incurring a lost time incident.

CONSOL Energy also moved forward with implementing a safety management system, CONSOL Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), modeled on the internationally-recognized Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) specification OHSAS 18001. Together with the Environmental Management System modeled on ISO14001 that was fully implemented in 2012, CONSOL Energy has quality environmental and occupational health and safety management systems which can be assessed and certified. 

Environmental:

In 2012, CONSOL Energy also saw its best compliance record with an overall company-wide performance which improved 30%.  We attribute that to the increased awareness and focus placed on compliance, through increased environmental training for employees and contractors, the addition of an environmental performance metric to our short term incentive compensation program for all employees, the implementation of a spill policy to track any spills, regardless of whether the volume required reporting to federal or state agencies. 

Community:

In 2012, CONSOL Energy channeled over $6 million to partners across its operational footprint through its community investment fund and held nearly 50 meetings aimed at education and awareness related to our operations throughout the region. 

To view CONSOL Energy's 2012 Corporate Responsibility Report, visit http://consolenergy.com/CorporateResponsibilityReport/2012New/index.html.

About CONSOL Energy
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) is a Pittsburgh-based producer of coal and natural gas. It has 12 bituminous coal mining complexes in four states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.2 billion tons.  The company's premium Appalachian coals are sold worldwide to electricity generators and steelmakers. In natural gas, CONSOL Energy has transformed itself from a pure-play coalbed methane producer to a full-fledged exploration and production company. The company is a leading producer in the Marcellus Shale and is transitioning its active exploration program into development mode in the Utica Shale.  CONSOL Energy has proved natural gas reserves of 4.0 trillion cubic feet. Operational safety is the company's top core value and CONSOL Energy boasts a record of almost two times better than the industry average for underground bituminous coal mines.   CONSOL Energy is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Equity Index and the Fortune 500. Additional information about CONSOL Energy can be found at its Web site: www.consolenergy.com.

About GRI 
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a non-profit organization that promotes economic, environmental and social sustainability. GRI provides all companies and organizations with a comprehensive sustainability reporting framework that is widely used around the world.  For more information, visit www.globalreporting.org.

Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release, including those that express a belief, expectation or intention, may be considered forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Exchange Act) that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. The forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release, if any, speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the following: deterioration in global economic conditions in any of the industries in which our customers operate, or sustained uncertainty in financial markets cause conditions we cannot predict; an extended decline in demand for or in the prices we receive for our coal and gas affecting our operating results and cash flows; our customers extending existing contracts or entering into new long-term contracts for coal; the expiration or failure to extend existing long-term contracts; our reliance on major customers; our inability to collect payments from customers if their creditworthiness declines; the disruption of rail, barge, gathering, processing and transportation facilities and other systems that deliver our coal and gas to market; a loss of our competitive position because of the competitive nature of the coal and gas industries, or a loss of our competitive position because of overcapacity in these industries impairing our profitability; our failure to maintain satisfactory labor relations; coal users switching to other fuels in order to comply with various environmental standards related to coal combustion emissions; the impact of potential, as well as any adopted regulations relating to greenhouse gas emissions on the demand for coal and natural gas, as well as the impact of any adopted regulations on our coal mining operations due to the venting of coalbed methane which occurs during mining; foreign currency fluctuations could adversely affect the competitiveness of our coal abroad; the risks inherent in coal and gas operations being subject to unexpected disruptions, including geological conditions, equipment failure, timing of completion of significant construction or repair of equipment, fires, explosions, accidents and weather conditions which could impact financial results; our focus on new gas development projects and exploration for gas in areas where we have little or no proven gas reserves; decreases in the availability of, or increases in, the price of commodities and services used in our mining and gas operations, as well as our exposure under "take or pay" contracts we entered into with well service providers to obtain services of which if not used could impact our cost of production; obtaining, maintaining and renewing governmental permits and approvals for our coal and gas operations; the effects of government regulation on the discharge into the water or air, and the disposal and clean-up of, hazardous substances and wastes generated during our coal and gas operations; the effects of stringent federal and state employee health and safety regulations, including the ability of regulators to shut down a mine or well; the potential for liabilities arising from environmental contamination or alleged environmental contamination in connection with our past or current coal and gas operations; the effects of mine closing, reclamation, gas well closing and certain other liabilities; uncertainties in estimating our economically recoverable coal and gas reserves; defects may exist in our chain of title and we may incur additional costs associated with perfecting title for coal or gas rights on some of our properties or failing to acquire these additional rights we may have to reduce our estimated reserves; the outcomes of various legal proceedings, which are more fully described in our reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; the impacts of various asbestos litigation claims; increased exposure to employee related long-term liabilities; increased exposure to multi-employer pension plan liabilities; minimum funding requirements by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the Pension Act) coupled with the significant investment and plan asset losses suffered during the recent economic decline has exposed us to making additional required cash contributions to fund the pension benefit plans which we sponsor and the multi-employer pension benefit plans in which we participate; lump sum payments made to retiring salaried employees pursuant to our defined benefit pension plan exceeding total service and interest cost in a plan year; acquisitions and joint ventures that we recently have completed or entered into or may make in the future including the accuracy of our assessment of the acquired businesses and their risks, achieving any anticipated synergies, integrating the acquisitions and unanticipated changes that could affect assumptions we may have made and divestitures we anticipate may not occur or produce anticipated proceeds including joint venture partners paying anticipated carry obligations; the anti-takeover effects of our rights plan could prevent a change of control; increased exposure on our financial performance due to the degree we are leveraged; replacing our natural gas reserves, which if not replaced, will cause our gas reserves and gas production to decline; our ability to acquire water supplies needed for gas drilling, or our ability to dispose of water used or removed from strata in connection with our gas operations at a reasonable cost and within applicable environmental rules; our hedging activities may prevent us from benefiting from price increases and may expose us to other risks; changes in federal or state income tax laws, particularly in the area of percentage depletion and intangible drilling costs, could cause our financial position and profitability to deteriorate; and other factors discussed in the 2012 Form 10-K under "Risk Factors," as updated by any subsequent Form 10-Qs, which are on file at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE CONSOL Energy Inc.