CONSOL Energy Gas Group Earns J. Brett Harvey Safety Award

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), today announced that its CNX Gas operations group earned its second prestigious J. Brett Harvey Safety Award October 14, 2011, recording another million hours of working without an exception.

The award follows on the heels of the company's Fola operations employees also earning their second J. Brett Harvey safety award and marks the fourth such safety award given since the award was established in 2008. Fola and the gas group are the only two operations groups within CONSOL Energy to have achieved the award and in fact each has now achieved it twice.

"To have operations in our coal and our gas groups now achieve this award twice is proof positive that our value of zero accidents is achievable," said CONSOL Energy Chief Executive Officer and Chairman J. Brett Harvey. "We say it all the time that safety has no rank and it trumps everything we do. Our gas group and our Fola operations have both successfully demonstrated through their focus on safety that it truly is the most important value we hold at CONSOL."

The J. Brett Harvey safety award is named after CONSOL's chief executive officer and recognizes sites that have shown exemplary safety performance above and beyond the criteria established by past company safety awards. The award was named after Harvey in recognition of his work to develop the Absolute ZERO safety initiative which the company continues to implement and work toward at all of its operations every day. That initiative recognizes zero accidents as the norm and focuses employees and contractors on achieving an accident-free workplace.

CONSOL Energy Chief Operating Officer Bart Hyita offered his congratulations on the achievement.

"Our congratulations go to our gas group on achieving their second J. Brett Harvey safety award in two years," Hyita said. "In that process, our gas employees across the company have accumulated more than five million hours of working safely without a lost time accident."

Randy Albert, chief operating officer of gas operations agreed, adding it is important that employees continue to maintain their focus on safety and to keep safety as their top value.

"The challenge is not to become complacent, but to continue to maintain our focus each and every day," Albert said.

CONSOL Energy Senior Vice President of gas operations, Mike Onifer noted the gas group achievement is a milestone of which to be proud.

"Our gas group has not only achieved the safety hours needed to earn this award, but they have also added to their overall safety record," Onifer said. "We are also proud that our gas group has now worked safely without a lost time accident for more than 17 years."

The last lost time accident in CONSOL's gas operations was in June 1994.

CONSOL Energy Inc., the leading diversified fuel producer headquartered in the Eastern U.S., is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Equity Index and the Fortune 500. It has 10 bituminous coal mining complexes in four states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.4 billion tons. It is also a leading Eastern U.S. gas producer, with proved reserves of over 3.7 trillion cubic feet. Additional information about CONSOL Energy can be found at its web site: www.consolenergy.com.

SOURCE CONSOL Energy Inc.