In The News / May 16

• Company wants to tap Mojave's public lands for Southern California water.

  One company is pushing ahead with a proposal to pump enough groundwater every year to supply 100,000 homes and sell it to urban Southern California. If the plan succeeds, it will turn ancient desert groundwater, a public resource, into a fountain of private profit, blazing a new — and some warn ominous — path in the state. Los Angeles Times

• New US plans delay some evacuations, cut practice for major nuclear plant accidents.

  Without fanfare, the nation’s nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away. Associated Press

• Dam project threatens a way of life in Peru.

  With encroachment from settlers and speculators, and after a devastating war against Shining Path rebels a decade ago, the indigenous Ashaninkas’ hold is precarious. And they are now facing a new peril, a proposed 2,200-megawatt Pakitzapango hydroelectric dam. New York Times

• Your heart on air pollution: An Olympic case study.

  China's radical blue-sky measures during the 2008 Olympics actually improved Beijingers' cardiovascular health -- if only for a few weeks. After the games came to an end, many of the temporary pollution-reducing measures were relaxed, and pollution levels climbed once more. The Atlantic

• How cheap meat practices beef up superbugs like MRSA.

  MRSA is among a growing number of bacterial strains that are highly resistant to antibiotics and are very difficult to treat when they cause serious infections. According to infectious disease experts, the increase in the number of superbugs over the past three decades comes from the overuse of antibiotics -- not only in humans but also in farm animals. ABC News

• Mining laws being drafted in Haiti.

  The Haitian government is drafting legislation for the newly emerging mining industry to help this impoverished Caribbean nation reap benefits, the new prime minister said Tuesday. Associated Press

• Palestinians face hurdles to a greener West Bank.

  In a society preoccupied with the struggle for independence from Israel, protecting the environment has often been sidelined — as evidenced by the ubiquitous sight of burning trash and piles of garbage bags on sidewalks in this city of 30,000 north of Jerusalem. Associated Press

• Ocean temperature made Australia floods worse.

  Abnormally high ocean temperatures off the coast of northern Australia contributed to the extreme rainfall that flooded three-quarters of Queensland over the summer of 2010-11, scientists report. Melbourne Age, Australia

• Fukushima tsunami threat known since 2006.

  The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and Tokyo Electric Power Co. were aware at least by 2006 that the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was at risk of having its power knocked out by massive tsunami, NISA officials said Tuesday. Kyodo News, Japan

• New scrutiny for California nuke plant as restart looms.

  The idled San Onofre nuclear power plant is facing new scrutiny from Congress as the utility that operates it moves closer to proposing a fix to get the twin reactors back in service. Associated Press

• 'Close encounters' with gas well pollution.

  Living in the middle of a natural gas boom can be pretty unsettling. The area around the town of Silt, Colo., used to be the kind of sleepy rural place where the tweet of birds was the most you would hear. Now it's hard to make out the birds because of the rumbling of natural gas drilling rigs. All Things Considered, NPR

• Fracking pollution reduced through oversight, report finds.

  State oversight of gas drilling has been effective at reducing environmental problems in Pennsylvania and will prevent major problems in New York if the state allows drilling to begin, according to a study released Tuesday by the University at Buffalo's new shale gas institute. Associated Press

• US asthma rates are at an all-time high, CDC says.

  The proportion of Americans with asthma increased from 7.3% in 2001 to 8.4% in 2010, marking the highest level ever, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. Los Angeles Times