ADAMS TWP — While an organizer of a gas well protest planned for Tuesday said the group was told they could not hold their event in a Mars School District parking lot, the district solicitor said they only applied for a parking permit.

Diane Sipe of Marcellus Outreach Butler and a founding coalition member of Protect Our Children said a rally to protest the gas wells on the Bob and Kim Geyer property on Denny Road is planned for 3 p.m. Tuesday.

While the group was planning to hold a news conference and rally in the parking lot of one of the Mars schools along Route 228, district officials told the group they could not meet on school grounds because the rally is political in nature, Sipe said.

“I don’t think this is political,” Sipe said.

School district solicitor Tom King said the group applied for a parking permit, which was granted.

He said while he did not see a request to hold the rally or news conference in the parking lot, such an event would likely be rejected because of safety issues.

King said the school facilities are rented for a variety of activities by widely diverse groups.

“If Marcellus Outreach Butler wanted to rent, they would be treated exactly the same as any other group,” King said.

He said a group member indicated to him Thursday the rally is planned for the rights-of-way along Route 228 by the schools.

Sipe said in a news release the event is meant to protest the Geyer wells because they are 0.6 of a mile from the Mars schools.

The protestors say the five Geyer wells have the potential to cause water pollution and safety risks.

Sipe said the speakers will include Raina Rippel, executive director of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project; Eva Westheimer of the Protect Our Children Coalition; Crystal Yost of Mom’s Clean Air Force; and Patrice Tomcik of the Mars parent group that opposes the wells.