CONSOL ENERGY TO DEMONSTRATE RETROFIT EMISSIONS CONTROL.

CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX), Pittsburgh, has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate an innovative, multi-pollutant control technology at the coal- fired, electricity-generating AES Greenidge station in Dresden, NY.

The purpose of the test project is to illustrate that the combination of various emissions-control devices can cost-effectively be added to a multitude of similar units nationwide. Greenidge is located about 12 miles south of Geneva, NY, on Seneca Lake.

The $33 million project will be partially funded by a $14.5 million cooperative agreement from the DOE through its National Energy Technology Laboratory, and includes design and installation of the multi-pollutant control facility, followed by more than a year of testing. The remainder of the costs will be funded by AES. Along with CONSOL Energy, major participants in the test project include AES Greenidge LLC and Babcock Power Environmental Inc.

"As a small coal-fired unit, AES's 104-MW Greenidge Unit 4 was selected for the test because it is representative of the more than 500 small-to-medium-sized generators in use, nationwide," said Doug Roll, AES's plant manager. "Many of these units currently are not equipped with emissions-control devices sufficient to meet upcoming air emissions regulation. The combination of technologies being implemented at AES Greenidge provides a new solution for smaller plants to reduce emissions in an economically viable way."

Central to the concept is the use of a hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction / selective catalytic reduction system and the Turbosorp(R) system (a circulating fluidized-bed dry scrubber). Testing and use of the retrofit, multi-pollutant control units is expected, for the first time, to demonstrate that this technology combination will do the following:

* reduce nitrogen oxides emissions to about 0.10 lbs. per million Btu (about a 60% reduction) with the hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction /selective catalytic reduction system.

* remove 95 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions using the Turbosorp(R) dry scrubber.

* achieve a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions by adding activated carbon into the Turbosorp(R) system.

* remove more than 95 percent of acid gases with the Turbosorp(R) system.

"It is expected that the proposed project will demonstrate the commercial readiness of this emissions control system to meet the requirements of a large group of existing electricity generating units," said Steven E. Winberg, CONSOL Energy's general manager of Research & Development. "This system is particularly suited, because of its low capital and maintenance costs, to retrofitting smaller, older coal-fired power plants."

Pittsburgh-based CONSOL Energy is the prime contractor under the DOE Cooperative Agreement and will be responsible for project administration, performance testing, and reporting. AES Greenidge, responsible for operating the multi-pollutant control facility, is a subcontractor to CONSOL Energy. Babcock Power Environmental Inc. is responsible for designing and constructing the facility and is a subcontractor to AES Greenidge.

"Because of the novel combination of these emissions-control technologies, the hybrid system offers considerable operational flexibility, especially in terms of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury reduction," said Richard A. Winschel, CONSOL Energy's director - research services. "Compared to other sulfur dioxide emissions reduction technologies, there is a substantial cost savings and enhanced emissions reduction by using the Turbosorp(R) system."

Actual operation of the facility will get underway in late 2006. It is anticipated that initial performance test results will be available in mid-2007.

"The concept merited DOE's financial support because the goal of the proposed project is to demonstrate a novel technology combination that can substantially reduce emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and fine particulates at a cost that is attractive for smaller, older units," said CONSOL's Winberg. "Ultimately, the successful completion of the demonstration of these technologies will likely contribute to the future availability of low-cost electricity from a significant fraction of the nation's coal-fired generating fleet."

CONSOL Energy Inc., a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 equity index, has annual revenues of $3.8 billion. The company was named one of America's most admired companies in 2005 by Fortune magazine. It received the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining for the company's innovative reclamation practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003, the company was listed in Information Week magazine's "Information Week 500" list for its information technology operations. In 2002, the company received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award.

For more information, visit http://www.consolenergy.com or call 412/831-4062.