Gas-drilling leases in W. Pa. cemeteries raising concern

Pennsylvania groups opposed to Marcellus Shale drilling have been spreading the word about a particular set of leases: those signed with cemeteries.

"The people who live around all of these places which have leases should be concerned," said Jet Miskis, a member of the Peters Township Marcellus Shale Awareness group, from the Washington County town south of Pittsburgh. "Because of the Oil and Gas Act, they are permitted by law to drill up to 200 feet from your home."

The Peters Township Council enacted regulations this month governing the gas-drilling industry.

Annabelle McGannon, executive director of the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said there were no immediate plans to drill for gas at any of the 11 cemeteries in Washington and Allegheny Counties under lease with Huntley & Huntley of Monroeville, Pa.

"Even if the drilling companies do eventually express interest," she said in a statement, "the association is in complete control over the location of any such activity, which would never be permitted within the developed sections of any cemetery."

In September 2008, the Catholic Cemeteries Association signed the five-year gas lease with Huntley & Huntley, a gas firm, for 1,254 acres, including 195-acre Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Peters, 200-acre Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh, and nine others in Allegheny County.

During the same time in 2008, another cemetery in Peters, Forest Lawn Gardens, signed a lease with Huntley & Huntley for its 70 acres.

A spokesman for Huntley & Huntley declined to comment.

In the months leading up to the Peters Council's Aug. 8 vote to approve drilling regulations, Miskis and other members of the Peters Township Marcellus Shale Awareness Group said they had worked hard to spread the word about local property and business owners who have signed gas leases in recent years.

The new ordinance calls for a minimum of 40 acres for gas wells. There are 14 such sites in the township - including the cemeteries - that would meet that requirement.

The news that Calvary Cemetery, the final resting place for Pittsburgh Mayors Richard Caliguiri, David L. Lawrence, and Bob O'Connor, was under lease contributed to the groundswell of opposition that led the City Council to ban drilling last year.

"It's a 200-acre gas field," Councilman Doug Shields said of Calvary. "It's the largest lease in the land."