Significant Accounting Policy (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

NOTE 1—SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES: [Abstract]

Schedule of Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Table Text Block]

The table below sets forth the share-based awards that have been excluded from the computation of the diluted earnings per share because their effect would be anti-dilutive:

	For the Years Ended
	December 31,
	2011	2010	2009
Anti-Dilutive Options	1,156,018	813,833	695,743
Anti-Dilutive Restricted Stock Units	—	1,960	5,274
Anti-Dilutive Performance Share Units	—	—	41,581
	1,156,018	815,793	742,598

Schedule of Basic and Dilutive Earnings Per Share [Text Block]

	For the Years Ended
	December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
Net income attributable to CONSOL Energy Inc. shareholders	$	632,497	$	346,781	$	539,717
Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding:
Basic	226,680,369		214,920,561		180,693,243
Effect of stock-based compensation awards	2,323,230		2,117,243		2,127,893
Dilutive	229,003,599		217,037,804		182,821,136
Earnings per share:
Basic	$	2.79	$	1.61	$	2.99
Dilutive	$	2.76	$	1.60	$	2.95

Schedule of Stock by Class [Table Text Block]

Shares of common stock outstanding were as follows:

	2011	2010	2009
Balance, beginning of year	226,162,133	181,086,267	180,549,851
Issuance related to Stock-Based Compensation(1)	894,079	800,866	536,416
Issuance of Common Stock(2)	—	44,275,000	—
Balance, end of year	227,056,212	226,162,133	181,086,267

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(1) See Note 18–Stock-Based Compensation for additional information.

(2) See Issuance of Common Stock in Note 1 for additional information.