Insights into the Energy Industry: A Conversation with Nick Deiuliis (CNX Resources CEO)

This episode is a powerful conversation with the CEO of CNX Resources, Nick Deiuliis, a luminary in the energy industry. Guaranteed to offer insights into the world of energy; we dive into topics like energy policies, climate change, emissions, and the significance of advocacy. Listen as Nick expounds on his journey leading CNX Resources, how his company is shaping the Appalachia region, and the necessity to harmonize energy expectations and realities.

Brace yourselves for a comprehensive discussion on the actual state of the energy industry. A seasoned leader, Nick clarifies the ramifications of energy policy, the effect of social media advocacy, and the potential fallout if energy policy goes awry. We also examine the media's representation of the climate crisis and its sway over policy making. If you're curious about the real-world implications of energy policy decisions and the true state of our climate, you won't want to miss this.

The spotlight then shifts to CNX Resources' Mentorship Academy. We unravel the opportunities that the energy industry and climate change initiatives present, especially for the youth. Discover how this academy is playing a critical role in introducing underserved high school students to the energy industry and setting them on the path to successful careers. A captivating blend of industry knowledge and practical guidance, this conversation will mold the next generation of energy leaders. Don't miss the knowledge shared, and be part of an enlightening discourse about the energy industry's future.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Cut and that's the end of this story of along the road, cooking out do. It was first. Thank you so much for watching it and until next week. See you soon. Ininte me and밀 Ideal. It took me about 2 hours to finish making my missions, but if you're looking for a little more of me to work on hassles, that's great. Gently tissueed up your bow, perry. What about thosekomteros? Jordan'sas Homemade Outro.

Speaker 1: 0:30

And I want to welcome everyone to this new energy crew podcast. I'm your host, jp Warren, and I am recording this on the road in Denver, colorado, beautiful city, great history here, great history in the energy space, the only gas space, and obviously got to represent here. We got a crew club event tonight. I want to thank everyone there for tuning in. If you are enjoying this new batch, this new round of energy crew podcast, please make sure you share, like, subscribe, help get the word out there. It helps just kind of expose it to other listeners out there.

Speaker 1: 1:05

That may not be in tune with this and I'm excited, I'm pumped to announce our guest today, who this is a second time around on the energy crew podcast and the first time we discussed I learned more about kind of his company, kind of the history of his company and I think, for those that tuned in or clicked this and are curious on who this is, this is the one and only CEO of CNX resources. I think. I believe it's CNX resources so many different. I should probably should have done this.

Speaker 1: 1:40

Anyway, so anyway, I'm bringing Nick. Nick, why don't you take this over? I'm kind of over the board. It's 11 o'clock there, nine o'clock here. I'm trying to show them. Nick, why don't you reintroduce yourself for those that are out there? I apologize about flubbing that up, so go ahead, nick.

Speaker 2: 1:52

No problem, jp, good to be with you and good to see you again. But yeah, it is CNX resources and that's what happens. We're coming up on 160 years next year, so when you've been around that long, you get different nicknames or names along the way as a company or a corporation. So no apologies necessary.

Speaker 1: 2:10

I think for those who are listeners that are tuning in right now, go back and check out the first conversation that Nick and I had. It was such a cool dive into 160, it was 160 years, something like that.

Speaker 2: 2:22

Next year, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:23

And then Nick and Lincoln was president and I thought that was just so fascinating here, just kind of who they are in the community, how they've grown, where they've kind of expanded and also contracted to to focus on kind of poor units and kind of what they do for the community. So I highly encourage everyone out there to check out that first episode that we had. And, nick, I think having you on right now aligns with kind of what we're doing on the injury crew podcast. The past couple of guests that we've had, we've had Ryan Walker with Shoemaker Advisors. He's up in DC, he works in the lobbying realm of space, the energy industry. So it was very for me personally I'm not a political person. I think each person has their own kind of whatever. However, there is some sort of disconnect with realities and expectations going on, which I think which is why I've been so kind of pulled towards this side of just our industry and kind of the discussions that are happening here. Before that we had Ryan Keeson who was kind of putting together this group to talk about emissions and kind of have give the operators a voice in the emissions discussions before it's kind of released into our industry on how we need to operate. So, again, empowering operators and who else. We have the other podcast we have we have Energy Facts Chats and Mike Umbrough. Nick love to get you on that I know you just talked to in California, but again, that also is here to bridge the energy expectations with energy realities and poor energy policy. Nick, you are such an advocate for industry and every time people question about who do you follow, who do you follow, it's like your name pops up Chris Wright pops up. Y'all are passionate about our industry, passionate about domestic energy, and that is kind of why we're talking here today On Energy Crew.

Speaker 1: 4:09

We've shifted the focus on kind of these candages, kind of hey, who are you? Introduction conversations, kind of a more focused, passion fueled conversation. What makes you tick, what keeps you going? This episode is powered by Exec Crew, your ultimate destination for professional growth and meaningful connections. Exec Crew transcends the ordinary networking group. We're a vibrant community of executives and leaders committed to personal development and authentic connections.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Immerse yourself in our dynamic in-person events once a month where we kick things off for the coaching personal growth session and dive into current topics Beyond our events. Dive into mentorship minutes, a unique space to connect and uncover members' strengths and passions. Connected memberships are now open for the 23-24 season. So seize the opportunity and apply on our website, connectioncrewcom, and find it under Exec Crew. Join us for the upcoming quarter and embark on a transformative journey with Exec Crew. Elevate your networks, elevate your knowledge with Exec Crew. So, nick, thank you for joining us. Sorry for that long intro. That's what I got to do to kind of connect all the dots, to kind of get the combo going. So, thank you for joining us, nick, and you've been how you been.

Speaker 2: 5:14

I've been busy, but good, it's always a good thing, and you know, what an interesting time, right With our industry, our space, where the world is. It's just unbelievable the number of significant, big moving pieces that are out there today, at this moment.

Speaker 1: 5:33

And so there's a lot of areas where people can get you know information, whether it's through Alex Epstein, whether it's through you know Chris Wright, you know building a lot of whether it's through yours. Before we get into the kind of the gist of this conversation, do you mind kind of listing where they can find your information, because you put out such great content, not just from a personal perspective but also from a community perspective, on what you all do, and I would love for you to touch on the C-next kind of the academy that you all have there as well. So plug where kind of people can find your information and I'll kind of work with you and link up with you.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Yeah, we've got a multifaceted approach. I'd say. Certainly the classic websites are always going to be great sources of information, sort of like the source rock, so to speak, for a lot of this. And there's the company website, the CNX Foundation and the Mentorship Academy, which is a big piece of the CNX Foundation its own dedicated website, and then I've got my own nickdueliuscom. That is sort of the, like I said, the source rock for all the different types of content and commentaries that we create. And then there's social media on Twitter, linkedin. Of course, if I'm not connected to the listeners out there in the industry, happy to do so, but Twitter and LinkedIn are probably my two most active platforms on social media to get content and to see what's sort of on the mind at that moment. And then the company sort of parallels those types of advocacy avenues on those platforms as well. So I'd say the traditional websites, the Twitter accounts or X accounts at this point, are probably the best places to go for the current information and content.

Speaker 1: 7:16

I love and honestly I'm not just saying this because you're a guest and we're talking right now, but I love your content. I love you know certain people in this industry are very inspirational to me because of y'all's passions. Okay, like you again, I'm a name, there's other people. But how y'all communicate ideas and I guess we call out the kind of the hypocrisy of you know the current realm of whether it's energy policy or energy discussions, it's that's cool. Sorry about that, even calling out like energy discussions and what you do. I love your approach. You hold kind of a mirror up to what you know, what's coming out of people's mouths, versus the realities of on which we all cohabitate on, and I love how you do that. So for anyone out there, highly recommend y'all follow them and just kind of just give it a look and kind of give it a glance, a glance over, and just kind of get engaged. It's very good stuff. So appreciate what you do, nick, seriously Appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Thank you, and you know a lot of this, jp. It's we got a couple of things in our advantage right. Our industry is just a crucial one, not to economy only, but society, life itself. We do have to live in a world of science and math and physics, so that's always helpful because it puts a lot of the emotion or ideology off to the side and focuses in on on just what is truth. And then you know, the third piece of this is the issue with regard to just getting policy right, the implications of it, the size, the impact overall, like I said, the timing of this. It sort of all came to a head in 2023 with the stakes, and that creates a big sort of maybe risk if we get it wrong, but it creates a lot of opportunity to get it right and to get that message out on behalf of the industry.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Where are we? Okay, where are so? Obviously your passion is domestic energy. It's bringing a sense of reality to again. It's kind of a it's more of a, I guess, an infused steroid-driven energy facts chest that I have in my gumbro. You're bringing the energy realities to the energy expectations. You're on the table. You're laying it out there for people to see. That's a passion of yours. Giving back to the community, I feel is a passion of yours. Even without kind of getting in a dialogue with you, just seeing your stuff I know what you're passionate about. Where are we to back up a little bit, you're talking about 2023. You're talking about 20 point. Where are we currently in the state of the industry when it comes to kind of you do a lot with public perception? Where are we currently right now, and what do you think is going to take us To get to that next level of conversations of acceptance?

Speaker 2: 9:59

Yeah, I think it's good news and bad news. The good news is I think we're in a much better position as an industry to get the position out, the reality, out the science, out To the, to the public, to the, the individual. That's objective and, looking at that, we're in a much better place today than we were a couple years ago. The bad news is that, because some of these realities are taking root now, right, so now we're seeing some of the failings, some of the, the weaknesses, some of the Achilles heels, so to speak, of the current policy, newsings and where we're trying to go with certain Tenants of an ideology or, frankly, a religion it feels like in any instances. Well, that's up in the ante. That's that's sort of upping the rhetoric, the emotion, sometimes the, the ridiculous nature of what you're seeing.

Speaker 2: 10:49

And so people that are sort of adversarial to what we do and adversarial to science and the realities of these things, they're doubling down. They're trickling down. Desperate people do desperate things right when, in desperate situations and that means you know the way I think of it the Things are going to come to a head right. The kilowatt hours or the BTU balances, or the energy, global supply demand, quality of life issues for the developing world. These things are not going to they. They must be satisfied. They're going to have to be.

Speaker 2: 11:26

Right and then what you're thinking through then at that point is alright, how much time another way of saying instead of how much time how much pain Does society or an economy or an individual because this really is, in the end, about the individual how much pain and how much time does it take for Realization of misguided policy to take root where we reverse or correct? Is that going to be, you know, next week and not as much damage done, or is that going to be in 10 years, after, you know, individuals, economies and societies are wrecked? That's where my head's at right now. I'm really focused in on how much damage will be done Before, decidely, we wake up to the realities and get back to a rational path.

Speaker 1: 12:11

So okay, so I completely agree with you. I think something that Mike umbro terms is that the energy boomer. You know we're saying you know, oh, let's do this, let's have flying cars based on you know, you know whatever. Oh, two molecules and all this stuff, you know, by 2050. Let's do that, let's phase this out.

Speaker 1: 12:29

However, the realities of you know, whether it's, you know, going all electrification or converting all this, all that, if the realities to the consumer and how this can impact, you know, people's wallets and pocket books, is Going to be the energy boomer.

Speaker 1: 12:42

It's going to bring people kind of back to the table to hopefully have these Conversations and the discussions.

Speaker 1: 12:47

But my thing is this like you know you're talking about, you know the the just, you know Whether it's a destruction or whether what, whatever it looks like the pain points, the pinch points. Mike was talking about me just got back from, you know, california not that long ago and Mike resides out there. He was just discussing, kind of like, you know, when this does happen, you know California is already planning for not not having not having any power in 2027 or something like that, and having like planned Brownouts, plan blackouts once this stuff does start happening, once these things do start happening, do you honestly, honestly, view that's kind of like I'm putting you in a position, but do you view that people and people of power, politician, all stuff, would come back to the table and say, hey, hey, people, we were kind of wrong, we do kind of need an energy mix? We don't want to phase this out, we do, we were kind of wrong and I do see. I mean, how do you see those conversations happening?

Speaker 2: 13:38

Very, very tough to say, probably depends on the individual policymaker or politician. If it's someone that's a newer face, they can sort of absolve any sort of tie to those prior Ill-fated decisions, then then maybe they come out with the view that you just said. My suspicion is, though, again, so many individuals in these leadership positions and policymaking positions Are just sort of you know, just so deeply rooted in the belief system, the religion of what they're trying to to proffer. There's basically no way out for them, and, and I fear again, that sort of results in entrenched mentality. They're dug in, and that's going to make a course correction that much longer and that much more difficult.

Speaker 2: 14:19

And, and in the end, when you think about this, it's really not just about the energy industry is as awesome as it is and as passionate as we are about it, and it's really not even just about a region like a western Pennsylvania or a California or whatever region that that is near and dear to your heart.

Speaker 2: 14:35

I mean, this is, in the end, about the individual, and if you care about the individual and when you get back to like the foundation of how America was created Back in the day in the 1700s, the, the individual Reigned supreme.

Speaker 2: 14:49

It was that foundation of what everything else was built upon, from Constitution to to government checks and balances, bill of rights, all those things. When you get back to the individual, this is what this is all about, because energy is something that every individual, every endeavor uses, requires needs, and if you can provide it affordably and reliably, right, in an a in an efficient manner, well then the individual, with whatever they want to be and whatever they choose, they're going to be free to thrive Right. And if you throttle that, if you purposely manufacture scarcity of it, then what happens is control of the path goes from the individual To something else, whether that's something else is the state or that's something else is a bureaucracy or a, a process, whatever. That might be right, different, different things could take that place and fill that void, but to me, this is really about preserving the individual and the right of the individual to choose for themselves what they do frankly with their lives, not just with their careers or with their, their individual decision-making.

Speaker 1: 15:59

It seems like such an interesting and also a difficult conversation to have. You know, when you take the individual Goals right, hey, we want to flourish, we want to provide for our families, we want to, you know, afford the stuff for our families, but then you have the other side, the, the greater environment, you know the, the climate Religion, if you will, and that's the kind of the tough point that I have, you know, discussed because it is such a hot subject and also it's like you can't engage in regular conversation without bringing up that. And it's like I'm not here to discuss the climate crisis or the climate global, I'm not here to discuss, I'm talking, energy right now. So it seems like it is kind of a unique conversation to have the individuals rights on the individual conversation Alongside the the world or the global Climate and all stuff conversation. How do you intertwine those two? I mean with I mean because it is such a it's passion subject with a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 16:53

You're exactly. I mean, you've hit on the two sort of opposing core themes, right? If you think about that, so think about the individual, person by person, up to billions of people across planet earth today, versus this abstract of the earth, right, of whether it's climate of the public, good, right, whatever you'd want to, however, you'd want to phrase that. Those are two very different approaches. Now. The first, to me, is very tangible and it's here and now. We can point to Individuals all across this planet. Some of them might be, you know, free market-based Capitalists in the United States, americans, right, or consumers, people in the western world. Some of them might be living in just abject poverty. Right, they'd have the desire and, frankly, the right Is an effective human right for a better future, a better quality of life that energy or energy access will give them, whether it's in Africa or whether the the subcontinent of Asia, wherever you want to look at in the world, there and there's a couple billion of them, and sometimes you know this, this might be Individuals somewhere in between.

Speaker 2: 18:02

Um, those two, those two extremes that are looking for that, that sort of access to reliable and affordable energy. So you can see them, they're here and now. It's not something you're talking about 50 years down the road or three generations from now and you know definitively. You've got an entire, you know very sort of thorough dataset that show is energy access, affordability, reliability, costs improve, the quality of life of that individual or that demographic or that nation gets just Exponentially better. And the converse is true as well. You take it away, you take those things away, really bad things happen. Contrast that with sort of the other side that you put out there. Well, you know the, the code red and the planets and future generations Not tangible, not measurable, not today. Write something out into the future yeah, but it's just over the run, burning my mind, though.

Speaker 1: 18:54

I see those images, I see those titles. I mean that's, whether I like it or not, I'm walking away with a certain sense of added stress, you know that's kind of outside my control what's the uh, what's the the saying if it, if it bleeds, it leads.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Right, that's what journalists always say. You report on sort of the Sensational stuff. That's what people want to hear, that's what gets attention, but it's it's actually going to step beyond that when it comes to energy policy and climate policies. It's not necessarily if it bleeds it leads. Now it's turned more into if it, if it bleeds, it leads, and if it doesn't bleed, make it bleed.

Speaker 1: 19:29

And I just didn't see the same thing put Due to climate crisis at the end of it. I mean because I've noticed that. I've noticed I don't care if it's, you know, above average rainfall. I don't care if it's a car accident on I-10. I don't care if it's, you know, sale at Macy's. It's because of climate crisis. Everything is because of climate crisis. I just saw the Maui fire was just devastating that within 48 hours. Climate crisis, climate crisis. So it seems like everything with whether it's whether it's Whether clam crisis is seen at the table, it's always getting called out always.

Speaker 2: 20:05

The beauty of that, in terms of like the ideology and the bigger sort of masterplan game plan of of the policy that it would enable, is that you quickly go from it's the climate crisis to what caused the climate crisis. It's now the original sin of the new religion. The original sin is quality of life.

Speaker 1: 20:26

Well there.

Speaker 2: 20:27

It's in the Western world today, or whether it's with respect to the developing world that wants it tomorrow. So you can quickly go from there's a climate crisis or there will be a climate crisis Abstract, free to define it any way you want. Rain over here, fires over there, cold here, hot there, it all fits right, any variance fits. And then, in the context, most importantly, of okay, now that I've got your attention on that and your acceptance of that, let's go back to what the root causes are. It's you, it's the individual.

Speaker 2: 20:59

Yes it's quality of life. That's the original sin. And until you repent from the sin and we'll show you through policy edicts and either mandates or regulations that eradicate things, we will show you how you need to repent from that original sin Then we're not going to avert the catastrophe. So if you think through this logically and sequentially, it's, it's actually, it's masterful when you, when you consider sort of the combination of this, which is you think about a natural Gas stove ban, yeah, why in the world? How can that ever even be considered in today's world, right in the United States? Think about that logic train. It makes sense at that point. Right, we've got a code red. We're going to destroy the abstract tomorrow if we don't act. The problem is a changing climate. I can define changing climate with any story with respect to whether anywhere in the world today, Never defined, it's just there's a clock, prices.

Speaker 2: 22:02

Like you said, it's hot, it's cold, it rains, it's dry, it doesn't. And you know, here's now a whole host of things that we need to do, because if we don't, you're going to have that original sin that's going to doom Humankind. It's, it is masterful when you think of it from a logic perspective. Now again, the good news is Is like, as a compelling or as effective as that has been, that will not hold up in the world of physics and science and chemistry and math. That's where the rubber is going to meet the road, the kilowatt hour. You know it's got a balance and that's where we're seeing, you know, more and more examples of the symptoms of these things taking root and the doubling down. I think that, you see, is trying to ascribe those symptoms back to the original sort of premise of a changing climate. So I'll give you an example of that.

Speaker 2: 22:51

If you look at food inflation, okay, uk, europe, united States doesn't matter where you look but but food inflation is out of control. In the UK it's, it's really bad. In Europe it's horrible. It's changing actually eating habits in Europe and in the United States it's not as bad yet, but it's still. Food inflation is twice, yeah, federal Reserve's target inflation rate. So it's, it's out of control as well, from on a relative basis. But what do, if you think through, a wiser food inflation? Well, because what's one of the key inputs of agriculture? Energy, right, what have energy costs done? What is energy security, energy of affordability done? Gone up, yep, you change energy and you get energy inflation. You're going to get food inflation.

Speaker 2: 23:34

But what do you hear more and more with the rhetoric on food inflation? Well, it's because of changing climate, it's because of, you know, drought over here or rainfall over there, and this is going to be more than norm. I don't think so. I think the root cause of food inflation I mean, I'll crop yields are looking fine the root cause of food inflation is energy policies and climate policies. You see the same thing with Ukraine and the war that's going on there. You know what? What's going on with respect to the Ukraine and energy prices? Well, that's, that's the cause of Energy inflation is is the war in the Ukraine and Putin back up a step. What caused the war?

Speaker 2: 24:13

Why did someone like a Putin feel enabled to invade a country like the Ukraine, not once, but twice? And the calculus that he had was Europe? Nato will never intervene or get involved? Why? Well, because they can't. Why, yeah, because I've got them. How do you have them? I've got them the energy. How did you get that?

Speaker 2: 24:34

Well, the climate policies that they passed, in the EU in particular, shut down their domestic, secure sources of the energy portfolio, retired those plants, shut in those gas fields, right, made a mad dash to something that's intermittent, very difficult to scale, high cost, unreliable wind, solar, etc.

Speaker 2: 24:55

And Again, here comes the math, here comes the physics, those kilowatt hours they have to balance, and in Europe's case they balanced. It was something like the Nord pipes, the Nord Stream pipes, and that created leverage For a Putin who used that leverage in his calculus to invade the Ukraine, which then helped drive up more energy inflation, which drove up food inflation. So these things all have this common root cause. Further evidence, that sort of the diabolical Genious of all this is that they've picked the one thing in society that affects everything else, which is energy. So the stuff that we're as passionate about, because why we matter and why we love the energy, space and domestic energy, that strength, that passion, that pride, it's the very thing that attracted that ideology and that religion to focus in on our space and our industry, because if you get that one, you've got everything.

Speaker 1: 25:51

But, nick, you, I love how and I know this is a compliment to you, but yours very you have trust in the science, you got trust in the data, you got trust in the logic right, and I love that. I respect that. But, however, if you look at the masses and if you look at, you know people unmasked is whether to know the witch trials I'm also what are the? Hey, this person's not a witch just so they get the sink, just gonna swim, whatever doesn't make them, which also, ah, I feel we're in the same kind of crossroads of that, whether it's like hey, look, you know, you can't heat your home with dung, you can't do this with this and we were talking about.

Speaker 1: 26:25

I Feel like, when it comes to the data, when it comes to the actual science behind, look, we understand it because we're in the energy space if I'm understanding more than me, obviously I'm just a good BS and but we understand the science behind it. However, whenever you're trying to sway Crowds, you know, when it comes to science, when it comes to data also, that always doesn't correlate to what needs to happen, like whether it's you know this, that. So how do you, how do we communicate? And actually, this is. This is kind of probably good tangent to go on With. You know your platform with all this stuff, with the data, with the science behind it.

Speaker 1: 27:01

How do someone sitting here listening in the car, at the gym or something like that, and say, how can I Increase my voice, how do can I get outside of my echo chamber to speak to other people about the energy realities, the energy Sciences, all that stuff, how do we do that? How do we? At the end of the day, you're right, it is all about the science is all about this. You know what can you? Heat a home? What can you? However, you also have the population fanatics, you know. You also have the people kind of they believe already what they believe. It doesn't matter what science or data. Yeah, so how do? How do? How does every everyday people, because we're all everyday people how do we get out there and kind of engage in these discussions?

Speaker 2: 27:41

That is a core Question. I mean, look at the tagline of energy crew with with passion field. This goes back to Sort of a responsibility coupled with a passion. Got a passion for our industry, for what we bring to the world. But there comes with it a responsibility to advocate. Now you can advocate sort of clinically with with data and science. You may choose to advocate you know, more emotionally with with getting people inspired with sort of the presentation and the wrapping of it, and Everybody is free to choose to tailor whatever fits their individual dynamic.

Speaker 2: 28:19

But my view that that I've evolved to, frankly, over the past number of years, I've just become convinced that every single person in the energy space in the energy space you know, like yourself and in many others, right, it just naturally attracts leaders. It doesn't mean you're an executive at an energy company or you know you're some sort of talking head on on the news programs. I mean it's just we just attract leaders from, you know, people tending to well, to people working within the support services. It's just an industry and a culture of leadership. So with that leadership comes a responsibility. You're working in the most impactful industry You'll ever want to find in sort of a career profession track. You've got a sort of a Dynamic and a critical mass of leadership in this space and you've got a disconnect Between the ideology and what it's saying and promising versus the reality and what happens in the real world. You know it. You know it. So what do you do? The last missing element of that is that ethical responsibility, that moral responsibility To speak up and advocate your way on issues that you're comfortable with and on Platforms and in sort of environments that you're comfortable with. But do it your way, but just do that okay. And you know sort of the and this goes back and ties back to a lot of philosophical sort of issues between the individual and the collective or the individual, and sort of the, the bureaucracy.

Speaker 2: 29:45

And if you go back to Even times with with communism in Eastern Europe, right when, when the wall came down in Germany and Eastern Europe, haval, who became the, the president of the Czechoslovakia, he, he was basically Somebody that was not a politician, right, we're not politicians and you were doers in the energy industry. We're not looking to to be politicians and we're not looking to set policy, those types of things. Neither was he. He was a.

Speaker 2: 30:11

I think he was a poet, but what he did was he made a determination Personally, that, as he put it, he became a dissident. And he said I don't mean a dissident like I was, you know, a Political dissident. I was a dissident because the system created a non-reality, false world and People began to sort of adhere to that false world because they wanted to fit in. There was a inherent pressure to fit in. So the example he used in his story was a shopkeeper to put a sign in the window of workers of the world unite. He didn't even know what it meant, he didn't think it through. He did it because sort of everybody did it and the system was rewarding. It Sounds a lot like climate action now.

Speaker 2: 30:53

Okay, and what he did was, he said I made a choice To live. He called it living in truth. I wanted to live in truth, which to me is living in reality, and that's how he found a moral responsibility. And he effectively became a dissident, not because he was Against something, because he was for something. He was for living in truth.

Speaker 2: 31:15

Yeah and in the energy space, with the leaders that we've got and with the data and the facts and the reality and science behind us. I think the missing element is sort of copying that playbook From, say, eastern Europe right, and it's not just the Haval and Eastern Europe, but there's there's all kinds of other examples of history that say I'm gonna take this responsibility on in a way that suits me, but I'm going to insist civilly that we're gonna live in truth. And if we start doing that and Advocating for that and you couple it now with the inevitable symptoms we're going to be seeing popping up everywhere it will, it will come to the proper sort of reconciliation. Sooner is going to be much better than later. I worry that it's going to be later, yeah, but the sooner we get on this right and have a collective responsibility to advocate our way and in the right way, the quicker we get to reconciliation of sort of consistent with reality and the truth.

Speaker 1: 32:12

Nick, I love, I love how you just said that, I love how you just brought up. So I mean because you're right, there are a lot of people out there that you know like, oh yeah, we need, we need to do more, we need to be advocates, we need to discuss this, and I love how you just brought it down to the individual.

Speaker 1: 32:27

It doesn't matter how you do it, just do it. You know, just-. Take a playbook and just go take a page of someone's playbook, take page of all these people playbook, put it together and take and make your own playbook and just and just go be the average and that gets into like this.

Speaker 2: 32:43

So to help that, to catalyze that and this gets back to sort of advocacy, and what maybe I'm trying to accomplish Is one of the key objectives to help the individual do that, to nurture them, to catalyze and to do that. Do things, when you advocate, that are replicable, that people can sort of take an offshoot and riff off of right.

Speaker 1: 33:05

What do you mean?

Speaker 2: 33:06

example so so things With respect to maybe some of the, the data or or some of the positions or views, putting them and exposing them on platforms that those leaders in our industry can see and they can access and then they take and and encouraging them To take that, not because you're looking to make you know, a dollar off of it or you're looking for some sort of attention or fame. I'm putting it out there so that people can repurpose it and they can use it. So if for another individual they're comfortable maybe not with social media, but they're comfortable with you know something that's topical and in a book club or with respect to a civic organization, they can take that data point and they can repurpose it and help go advocate. They can fuel their advocacy their way.

Speaker 1: 33:53

You know it's interesting. I was up in Oklahoma City last week. I was talking at the Oklahoma City Pipeline is Meeting and it was about advocacy. You know how we, how we're all advocates, like the only reason I'm an advocate, because I got bored, you know, like I got tired of seeing the same stuff and that's kind of how the book came, this of this came, that's how this came.

Speaker 1: 34:10

But, um, I was sitting there and someone from the audience was like, oh, you know, why don't you know, can you put this information together about? You know this, how much this power is this home versus this and this home? I was like, yeah, I can do that, but this is what I'm thought. Why don't you do that? If you have people out there have an idea on how to reframe something or vision, make something of visual and all stuff, the powers with y'all like, do it, create something, like don't look for? I mean, yes, you're right, repurpose it. But if there's something out there that you have a thought about, like, oh, this would be such an interesting way to Portray this thought, I highly encourage you out there just to do it, just put it together, put it out there and some of my pick that up, who's a content designer and kind of you know, polish it up a little bit. But that's how you do it. You know you create it too.

Speaker 2: 34:59

You repurpose it or you customize it, and you can do that internally with either what you're doing individually or within the team that you're on. I'll give you an example for us it's CNX resources. That's a great sort of illustration of this. So we've got these, these core tenants and and sort of the data and and what's going on with realities of energy and physics of the energy space and what drives economies, and we're working and advocating with respect to those individual points, item by item, and then we say let's couple that in the context of developing maybe a mission, a Pathforward for the region, region being for us, appalachia and what it led to Was sort of reforming that and tailoring that into what we call Appalachia first, which is again a path for not just the energy industry but, frankly, resurrecting manufacturing in the middle class and, specifically, an underserved urban and rural communities all through Appalachia, western PA, eastern Ohio, west Virginia, western Virginia, up and down sort of the the Appalachian basin. So Appalachia first. Yeah, it starts with a passion and it does speak largely to the energy space. It's been one of those core pillars of it and it's in a region that we care tremendously about but where we put that together to make it fit into a really compelling, coherent path forward for the region Was basically taking those different data points, those different items, and aggregating them in a way where here's what it could mean For this region and with respect to these types of issues.

Speaker 2: 36:31

So it can work a number of different ways. That's the beauty of it, but the the core goes back to I can care, we drive everything. We got natural leaders and, again, the data science. They're in our favor. So let's find a way now to couple all that what's sort of that, that drive to get up in the morning and do what you do right, look at what you've done with regard To to kids and young adults, with getting that message out and mentoring and getting sort of the, the energy realities Out there in front of them. That's what you're passionate about. Look what it's done, you know. Look at the impact that's had. You start rolling that up cumulatively, we'll get there. We will get there because it's just the, the cumulative nature of it, coupled with All these things that are happening now that the symptoms of ill-advised energy policy and climate policies are starting to manifest in.

Speaker 1: 37:26

So I have. First off, thank you, you know, and I also wanted this. I want to tie into kind of you know what, which all are doing as well, kind of what. Look, we're coming up on you know 36 minutes. There's two things that come on to talk to you about. Real brief it before we wrap this up. I know your time's busy and I'm in Denver on a on airport Wi-Fi, so we're not sure how reliable it is.

Speaker 1: 37:46

The first thing I want to discuss with you about is, I think, since our first conversation that's when you first started kind of really kind of find your groove into being a more vocal about advocacy already wrote your book, you already Started having started doing your podcast on stuff. So Since our first podcast, you've had kind of the space, the stage, this, this stage that's kind of evolving and building um, and I know it hasn't been that long ago, but there have been tremendous movements, tremendous, I guess, strides that you made um. So the first thing I want to talk to you about is, since you started this journey, your personal journey on being more a more vocal advocate Not that long ago, have you what have you seen, I guess, as a direct, I guess impact is? It is, I guess, what I'm trying to say. Is it you? Are you waking up in the morning? It's more frustrated because the same rhetoric and you're thinking, oh, I just put out all this information and no one's picking it up, or is it? Like you know, I am helping people out this. There is slight chinks in the armor that I'm kind of getting there. I'm kind of helping mold something, maybe potentially in the near future.

Speaker 1: 38:54

So I Know, I know I'm kind of random, I'm kind of giving you space to think about that, but I guess, since you started your advocacy vocal journey, are you seeing a different kind of environment, that that you're engaging with the conversations you're having?

Speaker 2: 39:10

I, I do, I um, I think you can get that perception and that feel, that feedback from from different perspectives. I'll give you one. One example is there are, I feel that there are Continuing growing indications that individuals that were on the fence, with respect to this advocacy responsibility, this ethical duty, doing what you do, doing what we all do that gives them confidence. It gives them comfort that they can do that as well. So I think a lot of people that were on the fence are started falling into the advocacy Bucket, right and there's, and that, just again, that amplifies, that increases, spread. That's a really good thing. That's a great sort of impact or legacy to think that you might have right. I think another implication is that, again, this is sort of what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 40:02

What you say is an industry as leaders in the industry like yourself, coupled with the times. So what you're advocating for JP is coming Ideally in some ways non ideally, but nevertheless it's coming at a time when these problems and these issues that you're talking about, you're seeing them everywhere. You're seeing them in california. I was just right, you said I was just talking to somebody from cal. I was just everybody seeing them everywhere europe, developing world, united states apple-achua, california, right colorado, danver done matter. So the times, I think, are in some ways made For this type of an effort to have an outsized impact and I think those two things. So when these symptoms pop up, when these problems pop up in the world, driven by poor energy policy or climate policy, it's just, you know it's, it's very, it's applicable and it draws interest and attention To people that you're trying to to reach with a message, to think this through and maybe pay attention.

Speaker 1: 41:03

All right, so so it is changed so little by little, pretty much little by little and that I.

Speaker 2: 41:10

I get more Positive upbeat and encouraged by the day and by the week versus frustrated. That's so I think you know that that's been a a good trend to see as well, and I, I suspect you feel the same way with regard to what you've accomplished and what you're doing.

Speaker 1: 41:26

If you're achieving. Yeah, I mean, but that takes a lot of personal focus too, because a lot of times I mean you know you wake up and you see the same old stuff or you can't even read, just as I said, whether there's traffic or whether there's like I need new tires on my truck or my car, it's climate crisis. So that stuff kind of frustrates me. But you're right to kind of, you know, sit there and kind of hear the feedback and hear, hey, look, you know I'm inspired to do this and that, like you know, just seeing the kids at the kids crew stuff, like you're right, there is a sense of kind of like, okay, this is what it's all about, this is, this is fun, this is cool to kind of have that impact and speak in an impact great segue, by the way.

Speaker 1: 42:02

Next, speaking of impact and the next generation helping out Different communities, I would love for you to talk about the cnx of mentorship academy, because when we first talked about, I think y'all just had y'all's first class graduate or something like that. I would love for you to talk about real brief Elevator spiel on what this academy is and where y'all are at currently, because I think it's so awesome what y'all are doing for the youth in the community, um, for, for people that might not have the the opportunities that other people have, and I would love for you to kind of plug that and kind of also let us know how people can get involved in and what you're doing and also, hopefully, maybe there's some leaders out there that want to replicate what y'all are doing.

Speaker 2: 42:44

Great, great points to that, that opportunity. Thank you for that. And yeah, we're in our third year now. Hard to believe.

Speaker 2: 42:52

The basic premise is simple. We're looking to Find seniors, typically in high school, that don't intend to go to college right out of high school, that are coming from the region's urban and rural underserved communities. So urban, rural, underserved areas or zip codes, students that are about to exit high school. They want a career path, they want a professional path. They don't want to go to college. That they're not. They're not immediately interested in college.

Speaker 2: 43:19

So you know the things that we do through the course of the year when we bring in a class or a, opening them up their eyes up to those types of industries that have those opportunities and energy is one of them. That's front and center, of course and spending days With them, immersing them into what does it look like to work in energy, what does it look like to work in manufacturing a building, trade, healthcare, hospitality, those, those different types of industries. But the other things you know that we work on with them individually, of course our building a resume and not just then building the resume. But once you got that initial resume built, let's go fill that thing out over the course of the year. Okay, and that builds confidence.

Speaker 2: 43:57

How do you do an interview right and like what are? We'll go through mock interviews. That builds confidence. How do you dress when you're going to go to the interview? I mean, here's, here's a suit, here's a professional business attire for for one of the, the female students. And then, from a male perspective, here's a here's a tie, here's how you know you basically are Expected to prepare for that type of an interview.

Speaker 1: 44:19

I saw not to interrupt, but I saw something. I think it was like two months ago or something like that. I feel like it was too much. Who knows, time flies, but it was something where you had the students, I think right before the interviews, all dressed up, suited up and all that stuff ready to go, and I was like that gave me chills. I'm like I love seeing what y'all doing.

Speaker 2: 44:38

Anyway, sorry, yeah, game changer. And then you know, working on things that basically get them placed into those career paths Coming out of high school, and that's a whole bunch of different things that, because this is life, right, we're talking about reality again where it might be a driver's license can't get, you know, you don't have a driver's license, you're not gonna get a job. But then to get a driver's license, there's a whole bunch of things you need to get prior to that physicals and birth certificates. Yeah, it's not as easy as you think, particularly for young adults in rural and urban underserved communities. So every what we've found out is that every individual students different. Everybody's their own individual and If you've got this year or pushing, I think, 80 students in the the third year's class, so that even different stories so the first year class was what was that was like?

Speaker 2: 45:23

30 something then, yet maybe 30, 45 yeah and 45 to push in 80 now and it's scaling. Our partners are scaling. So all these different Companies and partners you mentioned the, the dress attire, the business dress attire there's a, an entity we partner with dress for success.

Speaker 2: 45:44

Yeah does that? So, like, we've got a great team that we've aggregated, and you asked about, like, well, what, what's next? How do you, what do you do with this? We built it, we open coded this. It's open sourced, so anybody can come in to the company. You can copy what, everything we've done, and you can sort of build one out in Denver, where you're at. You can build one out in Houston or you can join this one if you're in the region, so you can. You can build your own and replicate it. Plagiarism is encouraged. You can, you know, you can join the effort if you're interested in joining what we've got going on. And that's how, basically, you scale this thing.

Speaker 2: 46:20

Very similar to what we talked about with advocacy, and I can tell you this like it's. It's very challenging, but the end result do we have is my expectation that we're going to have, out of 80 students in the third year, class 80 that are Placed in these family, sustaining career paths within those industries that I mentioned. That's my goal. That's not my expectation, because, again, this is the real world, but my ex. My expectation in my goal is that every single one of those students all 80 will be markedly, markedly in a better position and better prepared for the journey of life professionally and just as a person Coming out of the year than they did coming into the earth. They'll be more confident.

Speaker 2: 47:01

I'll be in a better place, and they will. If nothing else, they will have a network that they've developed through the course of this year. That it's a network that like I wish I had that when I was 18 years old, you know, going out and trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. They've got a very impressive network. Now it's up to them at that point to take it where they will, to use it how they see fit. But that's true for anybody in any situation. So mentorship Academy has been a huge success with the CNX Foundation. It's very it can be like we get our butts kicked, jp, like success is not a guarantee. We we stumble and we will fail as often as we succeed. But it's one of those things. That's trial and error, student by student. More we're willing to get our nose blood on this stuff, the better the outcomes, the better the rate of return.

Speaker 1: 47:47

What an all and I can't. I wish I had a great conclusion of this, but what an inspiring, awesome thing are doing and I love. I love how you tie it in the network side of things. That's my business. You know Building networks and it's so important and you're right, I mean 18 years old, you know Not a lot of opportunities. Suddenly, you know, in this thing, you make all these connections, make all these networks. I love that.

Speaker 1: 48:11

Um, I Think it's, I think it's one less. I think it's so cool introducing people the energies realm, because you know our industry is plagued with stereotypes. You know the uneducated roughneck or the or the. You know the rich, you know old white dudes dump an oil behind the orphanage In a third world country. But, however it's, you know engineers, its problem solvers, its leaders, its entrepreneurs, its tech gurus, it's AI geniuses, its marketing Experts. It's such an awesome space to be in and it's and it's and it's so outdated from the stereotypes that we deal with and the opportunity that's here. It's just it's head over heels. I love it.

Speaker 1: 48:47

So, um, nick, I want to thank you for your time and, honestly, if anyone wants to get out there and I get involved in and Check in with Nick and kind of find out what their mentorship Academy is all about and how, what they're doing for the community up there and how you can probably plagiarize and replicate it for wherever you're listening to. So, nick, any last thoughts, kind of a few Dyssen, if not, I appreciate your time. Thank you for tuning in and again, second round on the energy crew.

Speaker 2: 49:11

Now. I'm grateful for the opportunity and proud to be affiliate with you, jp. You're doing great work. Keep it up. Let me know what you need.

Speaker 1: 49:18

I'm just in the shadows of your shadow brother, so thank you and I will talk to you soon. And thank you, I'm out there for tuning energy crew and we will see you in the next round.

Speaker 2: 49:50

You.