After just a year and a half of work, executives with the British consulting firm Environmental Resource Management (ERM) recently presented the Nicaraguan government with a 14-volume Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for what would be the world’s largest civil engineering project, the interoceanic Nicaraguan Canal. The private May 31 presentation included only officials from ERM, the Nicaraguan government and the project’s investment firm, Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development (HKND). Three months have passed since the presentation, and the report still has not been made public pending completion of a government review. ERM did, however, give four chapters of the assessment to an independent panel of academics in order to obtain an outside opinion. That review, organized by Florida International University, cast doubt... [Log in to read more]