Natural gas company CNX is suing a California-based news outlet for defamation in federal court over an article the news site published about the company’s air monitoring initiative, which it is performing in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
CNX, headquartered in Canonsburg, filed the lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh.
In the suit, the company alleges that the nonprofit outlet, Capital & Main, published “false and defamatory” statements in a September 2024 article that “accuse CNX of business misconduct and otherwise malign CNX’s honesty and integrity” and “did harm the reputation of CNX.”
The lawsuit contends Capital & Main “acted with knowledge that such statements were false, or recklessly disregarded whether they were false or not.”
The article details the company’s “Radical Transparency” air monitoring initiative. The initiative was announced by the company in November 2023 at a press conference in Washington County, attended by CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis, Governor Josh Shapiro, and other local officials and leaders.
As part of the initiative, CNX announced on a company website in August 2024 that it is sharing data from air monitors at 11 well pads and two compressor stations in southwestern Pennsylvania. It also provided an analysis of data from two well pads, claiming that it was proof that its fracking operations posed no public health risk.
But some scientists said they were skeptical of this claim, especially because the company’s data had not been formally peer-reviewed, which the scientists believe is a fundamental quality assurance mechanism for scientific research.
Two prior state-funded studies showed that living near fracking is associated with an increased risk of lymphoma in children and asthma. Other studies have shown links with adverse birth outcomes and increased hospitalization for heart failure.
The Capital & Main story, authored by staff writer Audrey Carleton, included comments from the company’s CEO Nick DeIuliis from a news release about the study, and stated that CNX didn’t respond to requests for comment.
It also included quotes from critics of the CNX initiative.
CNX alleges some of these statements were false and defamatory, including one in which Ned Ketyer, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, a nonprofit advocacy group, questioned the timing of the report’s publication, ahead of the release of financial analysis of CNX by an outside investment bank.
The lawsuit claims the comment accuses CNX of “stock market manipulation” and “serious business misconduct.” CNX alleges further that it had no advance knowledge of the investment bank’s analysis, noting that analysts do not notify companies before issuing a change in the rating of that company’s stock.
Ketyer said in an email: “I hope everyone in Pennsylvania reads the article.” He declined to comment further.
The lawsuit cites another comment, from Alex Bomstein, executive director of the Clean Air Council, that labeled the study as “dishonest” “propaganda,” which CNX alleges amounts to a false and defamatory accusation of fabricating “the information and data in the report.”
Bomstein disputes the claims in the lawsuit, which he argues are based on “twisting facts and twisting words.” He’s worried that the suit would result in censorship of “reporting on things that are going on that are affecting all of our lives”
“We are not going to be intimidated by a baseless lawsuit,” Bomstein said.
The lawsuit alleges that the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments, one of Capital & Main’s funders, “have been a frequent critic of CNX.”
The lawsuit says “(i)t…seems curious” that Carleton covers oil and gas development in Pennsylvania for the California-based outlet, “except when one considers Capital & Main’s funding from renewable energy interests including the Heinz [Endowments] based here in Western Pennsylvania.”
Heinz Endowments spokeswoman Carmen Lee said in a statement: “The Heinz Endowments is aware of this lawsuit and is following its developments. However, our practice is not to discuss legal matters while they are ongoing.”
(The Heinz Endowments also funds The Allegheny Front)
Capital & Main states on its website that its mission “is to educate the public on matters of importance such as economic inequality, climate change, health care, threats to democracy, hate and extremism and immigration.”
In an emailed statement, Capital & Main Publisher Danny Feingold said the outlet continues to back its story and disputes the claims.
“We stand by our reporting and will fight this lawsuit. Capital & Main is widely recognized as a leading source of coverage on the health and environmental impacts of fossil fuel production, both in Pennsylvania and multiple other states. We have earned this recognition through scrupulous, fact-based reporting, and the story cited in the lawsuit adheres to these rigorous standards.”
In an email statement, CNX spokesman Brian Aiello called the outlet an “ideologically driven [group].”
“The complaint speaks for itself and CNX looks forward to proving its allegations in court,” the statement said. “Defamatory statements and provocative language… are serious matters and CNX intends to hold [Capital & Main] accountable for their words and actions.”
A spokeswoman for Gov. Shapiro’s office declined to comment.
