Lawsuits Filed Against CONSOL Energy

{West Virginia}...The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has filed lawsuits in West Virginia and Pennsylvania against CONSOL Energy, Inc. for causing a massive 2009 fish and mussel kill in Dunkard Creek. Commission biologists estimated that, through the month of September 2009, mining waste killed over 42,000 fish, over 15,000 freshwater mussels and over 6,000 mudpuppies on 30 miles of Dunkard Creek and destroyed a fishery that was popular in both states. The commission, acting as the commonwealth’s trustee of these aquatic natural resources, is seeking compensation for the losses that occurred. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and CONSOL had engaged since 2002 in a series of actions and negotiations over the company’s failure to meet the state’s new standard for chlorides. In one of two settlements reached in March, CONSOL agreed to pay $500,000 for natural resources damages to Dunkard Creek. Those funds have gone to the state Division of Natural Resources. In separate settlement of a complaint filed by the United States, the company is paying $5.5 million in civil penalties and will build a $200 million, state-of-the-art reverse osmosis treatment system to treat discharges from four mines.