Words Matter
CNX Demands Accountability from Capital & Main and Physicians for Social Responsibility
March 21, 2025
By Positive Energy Hub Staff
Trust in American media sits at all-time lows and it’s easy to see why. Take the example of anti-fossil fuel advocate Capital & Main. At first glance, the organization appears to be a legitimate media outlet, but a closer look reveals something far more insidious.
Capital & Main is a poster child for the erosion in confidence in the mass media. Unfortunately, they are just one example of hundreds if not thousands of entities generating content that is confused for legitimate, independent reporting. Is it reliable reporting when a simple Google search refutes conclusions drawn and inferences made, such as accusations of impropriety related to an analyst downgrade? A serious matter for any public company, to be sure. Is it unreasonable to expect a basic level of journalistic rigor on such an important issue?
We have said it before, and we’ll reiterate the offer here: come to Pittsburgh and join us on pad. This is an open invitation for both media and “media” to learn firsthand how CNX produces natural gas in the shale fields of western Pennsylvania. We assure you it is not as “reported” by the likes of Capital & Main and dozens of other organizations and individuals who continue to disinform the public about the nature of the shale gas industry in Appalachia.
CNX Executive Vice President and General Counsel Tim Bedard recently wrote to Capital & Main pointing out reckless statements made in their “reporting.” CNX takes such matters seriously and will protect its rights. While anyone is free to criticize, it must be done within the bounds of the law. We are pleased to do our part in helping to restore trust in media that our system deserves and demands.
Please read the full text of the letter below.
Capital & Main
1910 W. Sunset Blvd., Suite 7 40
Los Angeles, CA 90026
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing in regard to an article published by Capital & Main ("C&M") titled "Pennsylvania Gas Driller: Our Operations Pose No Health Risk. You Can't Be Serious, Activists Say" (the "Article")1. Apparently, it is not enough for C&M to engage in deeply biased coverage of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry. C&M has now resorted to publishing false and defamatory statements attributed to Dr. Ned Ketyer ("Ketyer") about CNX Resources Corporation.
Specifically, C&M and Ketyer stated in the Article: "[Ketyer] believes CNX's rosy report was issued not as a good faith effort to advance science, but to appease investors ahead of a ratings downgrade from investment bank Piper Sandler, which came the day after CNX issued its release." The factual assertion by C&M and Ketyer that CNX manipulated data in, and timed the release of, a comprehensive study involving tens of thousands of data points and countless hours of analysis by independent third parties to blunt an analyst downgrade is not only laughable, but also false and defamatory.
Notwithstanding C&M's and Ketyer's attempt to cast the defamatory statement as opinion by including the word "believes," there is no wholesale defamation exemption for anything that might be labeled opinion. That is particularly true here as C&M and Ketyer assert as fact that CNX knew of the coming downgrade and hurriedly published the report in response to it. To enjoy the opinion privilege, it must be just that, opinion, not an assertion of fact masquerading as opinion to avoid liability for defamation.
Here, it appears that neither C&M nor Ketyer contacted PiperSandler to determine if C&M's and Ketyer's defamatory statement was true. Had C&M done so, it would have discovered that PiperSandler did not alert CNX to the downgrade. Moreover, a simple Google search would have alerted C&M and Ketyer to the fact that analysts do not disclose downgrades to companies prior to publicly announcing the downgrade.
While CNX is, unfortunately, used to C&M's heavily biased hit pieces, it cannot stand by and allow absolutely false and defamatory statements to go unaddressed. From the circumstances, the only reasonable inference that can be drawn is that C&M and Ketyer recklessly disregarded the truth and intentionally blinded themselves to the facts surrounding the release of CNX's Radical Transparency report and the timing of the PiperSandler downgrade, all in a coordinated effort to defame CNX and its Radical Transparency program.
CNX welcomes a fact-based debate on our Radical Transparency program, and we are proud of our partnership with Pennsylvania's Governor Shapiro and the Department of Environmental Protection. Indeed, we are working to make Radical Transparency the standard across all phases of the natural gas development process for all operators in Pennsylvania and beyond. The people of Pennsylvania deserve responsible natural gas production, and CNX is leading in that regard. The people of Pennsylvania also deserve truthful, fact-based reporting and advocacy. C&M and Ketyer have failed in that regard. While CNX is open to debate and discussion, it will assert its rights and will not allow rank defamation to go unaddressed.
Sincerely,
Timothy S. Bedard
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Cc: Dr. Ned Ketyer, President, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
1 Audrey Carlton, Pennsylvania Gas Driller: Our Operations Pose No Health Risk. You Can’t Be Serious, Activists Say, Capital & Main (September 24, 2024)
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