Pennsylvania

Buying Land in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

County seat Greensburg, in southwestern Pennsylvania's historic bituminous coal and coke belt, now also an active Marcellus and Utica shale-gas county. Westmoreland County is governed by a standard three-member Board of Commissioners and has no countywide zoning ordinance. Its underground legacy is real and, in one well-documented 2024 case, tragically consequential -- worth understanding directly before buying rural land here.

A Documented, Ongoing Abandoned-Mine Subsidence Risk -- Now Active 2026 Litigation

Case-by-case / verify locally

In December 2024, a sinkhole opened above the abandoned Marguerite Mine (last worked in 1952) in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, killing a local resident; PA DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation responded with emergency grouting. In April 2026 the victim's estate filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against U.S. Steel, identified as the mine's owner, and the property owner -- active, unresolved litigation as of this pass. See our dedicated standalone for the case, DEP's risk-mapping tool, and mine-subsidence insurance.

Active Marcellus and Utica Shale-Gas Development

Case-by-case / verify locally

Westmoreland County continues to see active gas-drilling permit activity, with operators including Olympus Energy, Apex Energy, and CONSOL Energy (which has drilled Utica-formation wells here as an extension of Marcellus well pads). Split mineral estates and active or expired leases are a realistic, not hypothetical, consideration on rural land in the county.

No Countywide Zoning -- County SALDO Covers 31 of 65 Municipalities

Generally favorable

Westmoreland County has no zoning ordinance of its own; zoning is entirely a municipal matter, and a number of the county's municipalities have no zoning ordinance at all. The county's own Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) applies in 31 of the county's 65 municipalities, with the remainder maintaining their own separate SALDO. Confirm both zoning and subdivision-review status directly with the specific municipality.

A real, well-documented legacy coal-mining subsidence risk

Westmoreland County sits in the heart of southwestern Pennsylvania's historic bituminous coal region. Beginning in the late 1840s, railroad access made large-scale underground coal mining -- much of it converted into coke for Pittsburgh's steel industry -- a defining industry across Westmoreland, Greene, and Fayette counties, and that mining left behind an extensive network of underground workings, many of them abandoned decades ago with incomplete records of their exact extent and condition. That legacy is not purely historical: a fatal December 2024 sinkhole in Unity Township, above the abandoned Marguerite Mine, is now the subject of active 2026 wrongful-death litigation naming U.S. Steel as the mine's owner. See our dedicated standalone for the full case, DEP's mine-mapping tools, and Pennsylvania's mine-subsidence insurance program.

The county's own farmland preservation program, alongside the coal legacy

Westmoreland County runs its own Agricultural Land Preservation program under the same Agricultural Area Security Law (Act 43 of 1981) that underlies York County's much larger, nationally-ranked effort. The Westmoreland County Agricultural Land Preservation program (214 Donohoe Road, Suite B, Greensburg; 724-837-8971) administers Agricultural Security Areas -- a municipality can establish one with at least 250 acres of farmland held by multiple owners in tracts of 10 acres or more -- and, separately, purchases permanent conservation easements on individual farms, generally requiring at least 50 acres (with narrower exceptions down to 35-49 acres adjacent to already-protected land). For a buyer evaluating a larger Westmoreland County farm, it's worth asking the county program directly whether a specific parcel is already enrolled in an Agricultural Security Area or carries a purchased easement, since either status changes what the land can be used for going forward regardless of the parcel's underlying zoning.

Active shale gas today, on top of the coal legacy below

Westmoreland County is not only a legacy coal county -- it remains an active Marcellus and, increasingly, Utica shale-gas county today. Recent industry reporting shows operators including Olympus Energy and Apex Energy actively holding new drilling permits in the county, and CONSOL Energy has drilled dry-gas Utica wells here as an extension of existing Marcellus well pads, part of a broader 'stacked pay' approach layering multiple shale formations under the same surface footprint. For a land buyer, this means Westmoreland County carries both of southwestern Pennsylvania's major subsurface due-diligence questions at once: legacy coal-mine subsidence risk from decades-old workings, and active oil-and-gas leasing and mineral-rights questions tied to current drilling. A title search at the county Recorder of Deeds, together with a check of DEP's mine-mapping resources, is worth doing for any specific rural parcel here.

Zoning and subdivision review

Westmoreland County has no zoning ordinance of its own; zoning here is exclusively a municipal decision under Pennsylvania's Municipalities Planning Code, and the county's own planning staff note that a number of the county's municipalities have not adopted zoning at all. Subdivision and land-development review works a little differently: the county's own Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) applies within 31 of the county's 65 municipalities, while the remaining municipalities have adopted and administer their own separate SALDO. Confirm both zoning status and which subdivision ordinance applies directly with the specific municipality before planning to subdivide or develop a parcel.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Westmoreland County's FIPS code (42129) follows the alphabetical PA FIPS sequence confirmed elsewhere in this project. This research pass specifically fact-checked the task brief's assertion that Westmoreland County includes Fallingwater and found it to be incorrect -- Fallingwater is located in Stewart Township, Fayette County, confirmed via Wikipedia, Britannica, and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which operates the site -- so no Fallingwater reference appears on this page, and this correction is flagged for the task owner. The December 2024 Marguerite Mine sinkhole and resulting fatality are corroborated across the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WESA, and WHYY/AP wire reporting; a follow-up research pass in September 2026 specifically re-checked this topic for standalone eligibility and found new, more current material -- the incident's precise location in Unity Township and an April 2026 wrongful-death lawsuit naming U.S. Steel as the abandoned mine's owner -- corroborated across the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WPXI, the Latrobe Bulletin, and CBS News Pittsburgh. On the strength of that additional, current, and more actionable material, this topic was upgraded from hub-only to a dedicated standalone (see the county's easements page) rather than left as hub-only on the earlier reasoning that it was merely similar in kind to this project's Fayette County coverage. The '550 abandoned mine sites' figure remains an Allegheny-and-Westmoreland-combined total in the sourcing found, not broken out by county alone. The 31-of-65-municipalities county SALDO figure is drawn from the county's own Subdivision, Development & Zoning page. The county's own Agricultural Land Preservation program details (Agricultural Security Area and easement-purchase thresholds) are drawn from the Farmland Information Center and the program's own WCALP.org materials. Direct WebFetch to westmorelandcountypa.gov and dep.pa.gov was not attempted; findings rely on WebSearch-indexed content.

Verify directly with: PA DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation and its gis.dep.pa.gov/msiRisk map for legacy mine-mapping data on a specific parcel, the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds for oil-and-gas lease and mineral-severance title history, the Westmoreland County Agricultural Land Preservation program for a farm parcel's ASA or easement status, and the specific municipality for zoning and subdivision-ordinance status

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Westmoreland County

Direct WebFetch access to westmorelandcountypa.gov and dep.pa.gov was not attempted in this research pass, so several details reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim read -- confirm current staff, fees, and a specific parcel's mine-subsidence and zoning status directly.

Planning & Zoning

Westmoreland County Planning & Land Use

Subdivision and land-development review under the county SALDO (31 of 65 municipalities); confirm zoning status directly with the specific municipality.

Official website →

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