Fracking Next to a Cemetery? 10 Unlikely Sites Targeted for Drilling
A new report finds fault with attempts to lease public land for energy development.
Last November, when 6,700 acres of public land in Colorado were auctioned for oil and gas drilling, one lot came with an unusual caveat: It held an active graveyard.
Kanza Cemetery sits on a 320-acre expanse east of Colorado Springs offered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The rural graveyard, where more than a hundred people are buried, has been there for at least a century. Its land was leased for $26 an acre.
The cemetery is one of several eyebrow-raising sites caught up in the U.S. rush to drill for oil and gas. Companies eager to capitalize on the boom have nominated tracts beneath or adjacent to farms, historic sites, art installations, and even whole towns. A
