CNX Resources Corp. launched its “Appalachia First” strategy to “revolutionize Appalachia,” the company announced Dec. 12 in a news release. 

CNX, a low carbon intensive natural gas development, technology and applications company based in the Appalachian Basin, plans to combat energy inflation by utilizing the region’s abundant energy resources through three key initiatives:

1.    Use Appalachia’s efficient and sustainable sources of natural gas to bolster the economy through the locally produced natural gas’ lower cost and emissions.
2.    Develop new technologies and use natural gas product derivatives to employ a vertical market strategy to enhance local communities.
3.    Supplant higher carbon fuels with locally produced natural gas to revamp sectors of aviation, plastics, rail, cargo, mass transit, trucking and fleet and passenger vehicles.

"The nation and world are waking up to stark energy realities: energy scarcity, deterioration of our power grid, and energy inflation stoking wider inflation,” said Nick Deluliis, CNX president and CEO. “Policy often relies too heavily on applications such as wind, solar and electric vehicles that can present large life cycle carbon footprints, require supply chains stretching thousands of miles, are costly and face serious challenges when scaling in regions like Appalachia.”

Appalachia First also lays out CNX’s plan to use proprietary technology to change manufacturing processes for the extraction and delivery of natural gas, capture and convert greenhouse-gas emissions into sustainable products and applications and jumpstart the local hydrogen economy. 

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of petroleum and natural gas but still imports foreign oil that can be replaced with certified natural gas and LNG. CNX wants to capitalize on this to revolutionize Appalachia’s hard-to-abate sectors, the press release said. 

“This proud region and its people should be the solution to deliver reliable and affordable energy – our region's abundant energy resources can and must be used more effectively to prioritize the improvement of the human condition, the environment, the nation and the world. In other words, put our local communities first and watch what happens,” said Deluliis in the release.