In The News / Nov 21

• Pa. residents sue gas driller for contamination, health concerns.

  Pennsylvania residents whose streams and fields have been damaged by toxic spills and whose drinking water has allegedly been contaminated by drilling for natural gas are suing the Houston-based energy company that drilled the wells. ProPublica

• EPA tangles with Texas in battle over air quality.

  A more assertive Environmental Protection Agency is demanding that Texas tighten its pollution rules, drawing the ire of companies and some of the state's political leaders. Wall Street Journal

• Bitter fight developing over sugar beets.

  Virtually the entire sugar beet crop in the United States is genetically engineered to protect it from herbicides. Now, a lawsuit claiming the biotech beets pose a risk to other varieties could threaten sugar production. MarketPlace

• Did the 2008 Wenchuan quake strike because China filled a reservoir?

  Fill a reservoir behind a new dam, and, oops, you trigger an earthquake nearby not long after the lake is topped off. Now, a team of researchers suggest that this could well be what happened in China’s Sichuan Province in May 2008. Christian Science Monitor

• China mine explosion kills 37; scores trapped.

  The deadly gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China on Saturday, trapping another 82 nearly a third of a mile under ground, authorities said. Associated Press

• 80,000 asbestos sites at Qld schools.

  Almost 80,000 confirmed or presumed asbestos sites at Queensland state schools have been listed on a government online register made available today. Australian Associated Press

• Children starve in parched southern Madagascar.

  As temperatures rise due to climate change, drought, crop failure and deforestation have combined to create a crisis of malnutrition in Madagascar. Los Angeles Times, California

• Hacked e-mails fuel climate change skeptics.

  Hundreds of private e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who say they show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change. New York Times

• Regreening Africa.

  No matter what happens at Copenhagen or beyond, the world is locked in to decades of temperature rise and the associated climate impacts: deeper droughts, fiercer floods, more pests. How populations in the global South adapt to these changes will help decide whether millions of people live or die. Nation

• As nuclear reactor fleet ages, engineers ask, 'Is 80 the new 40?'

  Increasingly dependable and emitting few greenhouse gases, the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants will likely run for another 50 or even 70 years before it is retired -- long past the 40-year life span planned decades ago. Greenwire

• Obama plans quick action on black lung, new MSHA chief says.

  The Obama administration plans action "in the next couple of weeks" on a program to tighten dust limits in underground coal mines and take other steps "to end black lung disease," the new head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Friday. Charleston Gazette, West Virginia

• Shoppers going green despite struggling economy,

  Despite the worst U.S. recession in decades, sales of organic and sustainable products have continued to grow, experts say, with shoppers willing to spend a few more dollars in a bid to become more green. Reuters

• Obscured by war, water crisis looms in Yemen.

  Lately, the news from Yemen has been dominated by an escalating rebellion along the border with Saudi Arabia. But for water experts, Yemen has been making news for decades because of its severe overuse of a rapidly disappearing water supply. All Things Considered, NPR

• Westlands irrigation district wields major clout in California water wars.

  Westlands Water District, the country's largest federal irrigation district, represents just 600 San Joaquin Valley farmers, but Westlands is no hayseed at any bargaining table. Fresno Bee, California

• Cancer screening: What could it hurt? A lot, actually.

  After decades of focus on the upside of cancer screening, public health experts are increasingly reevaluating the wisdom of administering routine cancer screening tests to millions of asymptomatic people. Los Angeles Times, California