And then there were three. The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) has been fighting some pretty stiff headwinds. The organization was founded by a group of shale industry people and environmentalists reaching across the isle to forge strict standards that both sides can live with. Environmental leftists, like Mamma Teresa Heinz Kerry and her Heniz Endowments, pulled support and have actively worked against the CSSD (see She Speaks! Teresa Heinz Kerry Talks re Endowments Firings, CSSD). Other so-called environmental groups like the William Penn Foundation also bailed. But new supporters stepped into the breach to take their shoes (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). On the industry side, not all that many stepped up to receive the CSSD’s thorough examination. The first to do so was Chevron. The second, not along ago, was Shell. And now CONSOL Energy has become the third Marcellus driller to apply for and receive CSSD certification. All three were part of the original working group that formed the CSSD–it’s good to see they’re setting an example…
