The Stream, January 17: China’s Environmental Litigation

Reuters tells the story of a Chinese “cancer village” that is testing the reach of China’s laws against environmental pollution. Meanwhile, a Beijing-based environmental lawyer looks 10 years back, at a disappointing decade for environmental litigation in China.

Did China really intend to create an agricultural colony in Mozambique or make the Zambezi Valley into China’s rice bowl? A professor at the American University in Washington, D.C., peels back the layers of the sensational reports about China’s “land grabbing” in the area.

Japan’s Inpex and France’s Total have officially approved the giant Ichthys liquefied natural gas project in Australia, bringing the amount of gas export approval commitments in Australia to $175 billion in the past two years and a half, The Australian reported. Ichthys will be the second most expensive project ever undertaken in Australia.

Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new green technology that generates power, according to Associated Press.

U.K. engineers have edged closer to exploring a vast lake trapped beneath the Antarctic ice, the BBC reported. The ambitious project to drill through the two-mile-thick ice-sheet to search for signs of life and to better understand the past climate is scheduled for the end of the year.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.