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Sports: Minnesota Twins extend Royals’ skid See B1

THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

www.iolaregister.com

Saturday’s Pedalfest mixes cycling, music By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register

Allen County, with its network of trails and handful of annual running events, is in a position to enhance its reputation as a bright spot for “active tourism” when it launches the first ever Portland Alley Pedalfest this Saturday. Billed as a bicycling and music festival, the two-day event kicks off with an organized bike ride during the day

on Saturday; live music, food vendors and a beer garden in the evening; and, on Sunday,

self-guided tours across Allen County and beyond (route maps provided). The ride, open to cycling die-hards and gentle hobbyists alike, offers participants a choice of five routes — 13, 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles — all of which begin in Riverside Park at 8 a.m. The beer garden opens at 1 p.m. and the bands spark to life at 5. According to one of the event’s primary consultants, Randy Rasa — who moved to Iola two years ago on the

strength of the town’s bikefriendly potential — the festival embodies the same twopronged hope that underpins the county’s native trail projects: “We want to bring people to Iola and we want to get local people riding.” Organized by Thrive Allen County (of which Rasa is a board member), Saturday’s event is modeled, in part, on Missouri’s Pedaler’s Jamboree, a bike and music festival on the Katy Trail. In only a few years, said Rasa,

the Boonville-based event has swelled from a few hundred cyclists, on that first ride, into one the country’s largest attractions of its kind, drawing more than 3,000 riders this year — and serving as a shot to the arm of the area’s rural economy. It’s important to Rasa and to the organizers at Thrive — who have spent months coordinating the details required to achieve lift-off on an event See PEDALFEST | Page A6

Growth of fracking brings added dangers By JOHN FLESHER The Associated Press

CROSSROADS, N.M. (AP) — Carl Johnson and son Justin, who have complained for years about spills of oilfield wastewater where they raise cattle in the high plains of New Mexico, stroll across a 1½-acre patch of sandy soil — lifeless, save for a scattering of stunted weeds. Five years ago, a broken pipe soaked the land with as much as 420,000 gallons of wastewater, a salty drilling byproduct that killed the shrubs and grass. It was among dozens of spills that have damaged the Johnsons’ grazing lands and made them worry about their groundwater. “If we lose our water,” Justin Johnson said, “that ruins our ranch.” Their plight illustrates a side effect of oil and gas production that has worsened with the past decade’s drilling boom: spills of wastewater that foul the land, kill wildlife and threaten freshwater supplies. An Associated Press analysis of data from lead-

America’s pastime celebrated

Shale gas drilling rigs that use fracking to extract gas from the earth. ing oil- and gas-producing states found more than 180 million gallons of wastewater spilled from 2009 to 2014 in incidents involving See FRACKING | Page A3

Enforcement often lax

Saturday’s Colony Day celebration touted all things baseball with its them “Take Me Out To the Ballgame.” At top, Crest High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes members, from left, Makayla Jones, Taryn Covey and Lupita Rodriguez, toss Cracker Jacks from their float. At middle left, Crest Middle School students Anna Hermreck, foreground, and Vicky Rodriguez perform with the CMS marching band. At middle right, Denton Ramsey’s Kansas City Royalsthemed bicycle was judged the best in the parade. At bottom right, Iolan Richard Gilliland takes in one of the car show entries. REGISTER/

By JOHN FLESHER The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — In April 2013, a malfunctioning oil well in the countryside north of Oklahoma City caused storage tanks to overflow, sending 42,000 gallons of briny wastewater hurtling over a dike, across a wheat field and into a farm pond. State regulators ordered the oil company to clean up as much of the spill as possible and repair the site. But they didn’t impose fines or other punishment against Moore Petroleum Investment Corp., a tiny company in Norman that operates only a few wells. Regardless of the damage done, the no-penalty policy is standard practice across the country after oilfield wastewater accidents by companies of all sizes. Spills by the tens of thousands have denuded farm and ranch lands

RICHARD LUKEN

Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 213

“We are all born mad. Some remain so.” — Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright 75 Cents

and polluted waters in oilproducing areas for decades, yet only a small minority resulted in discipline. Regulators’ approach toward oil spills is largely the same. “We certainly believe there’s a time and a place for that hammer, but we want to be very judicious in its use,” said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees the industry in that state. Moore Petroleum promptly arranged cleanup of its spill, which was accidental, he said. Environmental activists and groups representing landowners contend the lack of punishment helps explain why the industry hasn’t done more to prevent spills, and shows regulators’ deference to oil and gas producers. “It’s almost a coddling relationship,” said Jill Morrison of the Powder River See OVERSIGHT | Page A6

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