CONSOL Energy’s NotSoFast initiative, which highlights the crucial role coal plays in both the energy and non-energy needs of society, is a first-of-its kind program with global implications. NAM talks exclusively with the miner about the program, its efforts to date, and how the program is influencing the future of coal.
Edited by Donna Schmidt
Anyone whose life touches coal mining knows that telling its positive story, and how things in the industry are being done well, is an uphill battle. Polishing coal’s reputation after years of negative public option, despite clean coal technologies, new ideas for coal’s use well beyond the ordinary, and operators being significantly better neighbors, is still proving to be a winding path.
A solution takes more than transparency, however; a mission backed by facts, ideas and dedication to the coal community and its users is vital. That’s why CONSOL Energy has opted to get the facts out with its NotSoFast campaign.
“The so-called experts keep saying there is no place for coal because it is being replaced with renewable energy sources like wind and solar much faster than is realistic, and many people are led to believe coal has no place in our future. They are wrong, and we decided to develop the NotSoFast campaign to get the facts out,” said program lead Erica Fisher of the program’s development.
Another element of this brainchild? The miner’s employees: “They take great pride in the work we do to provide a high-quality product while focusing on sustainability and innovation for the future. We also use more than half of the coal we produce for non-energy uses like brick, concrete and steel production.”
About NotSoFast
There have been other programs that are similar to NotSoFast, Fisher said, but as she noted, it is the first of its kind to be 100% fact-based with the goal of starting conversations about the role of coal in the U.S. and the global energy future and all the non-energy uses for coal.
“We aren’t shying away from the hard conversations. We welcome an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy that includes coal, natural gas, solar, wind, and even nuclear. But we want people to realize there is a lot of misinformation regarding coal and many unintended consequences to rushing to renewables too quickly before the technology and infrastructure is ready for it,” she said. “Also, people need to realize that coal will continue to contribute to people’s standard of living for a long, long time.
It is the perfect transition to defining just what NotSoFast is and what it means to the industry and the public.
NotSoFast has two meanings, she pointed out: “First, it means replacing the baseload capability of coal and natural gas to provide for our energy needs is not going to happen as quickly as many people are saying. While solar and wind are increasing, the technology and infrastructure to actually get energy generated by them to the end user have a long way to go. We’ve seen areas of the country that rely too heavily on renewables run into problems and need coal to provide energy to make up the shortfall.
“The second meaning is that when you hear people say coal will be out of the energy mix and basically a non-entity in the next decade or two, we say not so fast with that line of thinking,” she added.
For example, did you know: more than half the coal CONSOL Energy produces is exported for energy and industrial uses? “The demand for coal globally isn’t going away anytime soon,” Fisher pointed out. She added that the miner has diversified, so the majority of the coal it produces isn’t used for energy production. “We are working on many innovative, new uses for coal that will keep us around for many years to come,” she pointed out, and seeing that coal plays such a large role in U.S. energy security and energy independence, there is a moral case for coal globally where it makes up 35% of energy production worldwide, meeting the energy needs for billions of people.
All this as 775 million people in the world still do not have access to electricity.
The primary elements of the NotSofast initiative is the website, thecoalhardtruth.com, that offers all the information needed for people to learn about the impact coal has, and with cited informational sources. That is paired with the promotion of the campaign through an aggressive program including traditional paid advertising, digital ads, social media, and media relations.
“We are even running TV spots on FOX News, and have been interviewed by media and podcasters in the U.S. and globally to get the word out about the NotSoFast campaign. We also hope to get information out to elected officials so they’re armed with the facts and can make their own informed decisions,” Fisher said.
CONSOL’s position as the backer of this important program is ideal, she added, because – as it holds a top position in the coal industry – it is simply the right thing to do.
“We feel like our industry has been under attack for a long time, and we feel like it’s time to fight back with facts and information so people have a better understanding of the importance of coal and what a world without coal really looks like. We have heard from many others in the industry who have thanked us for taking this leadership role.”
Coal’s sustainability
Fisher points out that sustainability – which has been at the forefront of many mining types, but especially in coal – and the uses for coal and its byproducts are crucial facets of the discussion as it relates to the commodity as it forges ahead, and it is a factor taken very seriously at CONSOL.
“In 2022 alone, our environmental expenditures totaled about $66 million, and our compliance record has exceeded 99.9% for 10 consecutive years. The coal industry overall has done a lot too. Over the past 20 years, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fueled power-generating stations in the United States has decreased by nearly 80%,” she said.
In terms of new uses, it has been working diligently on innovation for years. Among the most exciting new developments is through subsidiary Touchstone Advanced Composites, where it produces CFOAM, a high-performance carbon foam made entirely from coal.
“This material is crucial in constructing aerospace tools used to manufacture parts for cutting-edge projects, such as NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to develop a low-boom supersonic jet. We are also working on materials made from coal to be used in building products like composite decking and are even working on batteries to meet the growing needs of electrical vehicles using graphite, which comes from coal,” she explained.
Why now, and defining progress
“We started the program almost a year ago and feel this is the time to fight back and to push for fact-based discussions, and not just emotional ones. This will allow people to understand the facts about the need for coal today but also for tomorrow,” Fisher said of the timing of the program. It has, to date, received positive feedback from inside and outside the industry.
What evolutions are ahead, and what will progress look like? CONSOL has a keen eye being watchful of this.
“I think we just need to keep pushing to ensure more people are seeing the messages coming from the campaign, and we intend to do just that,” she said.
“We have a lot of metrics showing our strategies and tactics to get the word out about the NotSoFast campaign are working. Anecdotally, we are hearing from our employees as well as others in the industry about how proud they are to see this program to educate people about how important coal is in everyone’s daily life.”
Among the feedback on NotSoFast, she said, has been an interest from the general public that is sometimes mixed.
“Of course we are hearing some negative comments that are emotionally charged, and that’s okay. The majority of feedback we receive from the public is positive, though. If everyone just stops to think about what it takes to turn the lights on and provide heating and cooling (and other things we sometimes take for granted) when you flick a switch, and the huge role coal plays in that, then we’ve done our job.
“Also, it’s so important for people to understand coal is used for so much more than producing energy,” she continued. “It plays a large role in the clean water we drink, the food we eat, and is actually used more and more to make the steel in wind turbines and the infrastructure build-out needed to make renewable energy work.”
Looking at coal’s future, it is programs like NotSoFast that will help to tell that needed positive story. The story the entire industry has been trying to tell for some time – and it now has a bullhorn.
“Coal has been under siege for a long time now, and there is so much misinformation out there. We feel one of the main goals of the NotSoFast campaign is to correct some of this misinformation and give people a holistic view of how important coal is to each and every one of us,” Fisher said.
Inside look: CONSOL Energy
CONSOL’s flagship operation is the Pennsylvania Mining Complex (PAMC) which has the capacity to produce approximately 28.5 million tons of coal per year. It is composed of three large-scale underground mines (Bailey, Enlow Fork and Harvey) and the largest coal preparation facility in the United States, the Bailey Central Preparation Plant. Additionally, the Itmann Mining Complex, located in Wyoming County, W.Va., has the capacity to produce approximately 900,000 tons of premium coking coal per year, serving the steel markets both domestically and abroad.
The CONSOL Marine Terminal (CMT), owned and operated by CONSOL, is located in the port of Baltimore, Md. With a throughput capacity of approximately 20 million tons per year, CMT provides strategic access to the export markets. CONSOL employs over 2,000 employees.
In addition to the approximately 584 million reserve tons associated with the PAMC and the approximately 28 million reserve tons associated with the Itmann Mining Complex,
CONSOL controls approximately 1.3 billion tons of greenfield thermal and metallurgical coal reserves and resources in the major coal-producing basins of the eastern United States.
