On March 9-10, FIU Law hosted a scientific review of the environmental impact assessment for the controversial Nicaragua Canal project. Co-organized by Senior Scholar Ryan Stoa, the panel raised serious concerns about the study and proposed mega-project. Professor Stoa was interviewed about the Canal in an article by Keith Schneider of Circle of Blue. Stoa expressed concerns that the Environmental and Social Impacts Assessment (ESIA) has not been made public by the government of Nicaragua.
“That is the most urgent short-term concern with the process,” said Stoa, a lawyer and senior scholar at Florida International University who helped to organize the independent review panel. “The government is holding it back. It’s hard for anyone to judge the merits of the study without seeing the research in its entirety. It’s troubling for us that the government has not publicly released the report, or even indicated when they will do so. While the science we reviewed was problematic, I expect the final ESIA will raise serious concerns about the impacts of the canal. It’s imperative that the public have access to that research sooner rather than later.”
Read the article here.
Faculty Website: http://lawdev.wordpress.fiu.edu/faculty/directory/ryan-b-stoa/