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The Special Committee, made up of members of the Consol board of directors and independent counsel, said it had found no evidence of fraud or malfeasance with respect to any of the matters reviewed.

In addition, the Committee found "no evidence to suggest that Consol's publicly issued financial statements were incorrect with respect to any of the matters reviewed."

The letter accused Consol directors and senior executive officers of misappropriating corporate funds and other assets and engaging in other illegal or inappropriate activities.

In response to the letter, the board of directors formed the Special Committee composed of directors Patricia Hammick and James Altmeyerwith the assistance of its independent counsel Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, to conduct an inquiry into the validity of claims. The investigation took 14 weeks and consisted of a review of over 170,000 pages of documents and the interview of 60 CONSOL employees, officers, directors and other parties.

The Special Committee's report also addressed ancillary matters which came to its attention as a result of the investigation.

The report placed particular emphasis on Consol's need to adopt best practices with respect to corporate governance and earnings guidance. In response, the board yesterday established a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, to be chaired by Hammick, to solidify the board's commitment to the best practices of corporate governance now and in the future.

"The full management team welcomes the continued support of the board and looks forward to working with the board and our new Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee in moving Consol Energy forward as a leader in corporate governance practices,” said Consol CEO Brett Harvey.

“We will also be undertaking a review of our earnings guidance practices in the near term. With respect to our pending registration statements and other securities filings, we will be working with the SEC and our independent accountants to identify the next steps to be taken in regard to those filings so that they may proceed," he said.