Scientists and social activists have become very disturbed by the potential catastrophic consequences caused by the construction of a new canal through Nicaragua. Reuters reports that construction will begin 12-22-14.
Spiegel has a fascinating read on this epic disaster just begging to happen.
The waterway is to stretch from Río Brito on the Pacific coast to the mouth of the Punta Gorda river on the Caribbean coast. Beyond that, though, curiously little is known about the details of the project. Only Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his closest advisors know how much money has already been invested, what will happen with the people living along the route and when the first construction workers from China arrive. Studies regarding the environmental and social impact of the undertaking don't exist.
The timeline is tight. The first ship is scheduled to sail into Río Brito, which will become part of the canal, in just five years. When completed, the waterway will be 278 kilometers (173 miles) long, 230 meters (755 feet) wide and up to 30 meters (100 feet) deep, much larger than the Panama Canal to the south. A 500-meter wide security zone is planned for both sides of the waterway. And it will be able to handle enormous vessels belonging to the post-panamax category, some of which can carry more than 18,000 containers
Proposed canal routes in red (2013). Blue: Panama Canal. The canal starting construction 12/22/14, will follow the second route from the top, south of Bluefields. Image WIKI
Dredging millions of tons of earth from land and the lake bed, displacing tens of thousands of people, steam rolling over the indigenous people and their land. The list goes on, polluting the water of Lake Nicaragua which just happens to be the water supply of the nation.
NPR notes the fear of the local people.
"People are also very worried about the beaches, and what happens if the diggers dig too deep and disturb the active volcanoes," says Bol.
There could be an eruption, and we will all be gone, she says. It was Nicaragua's active volcanoes and seismic activity that led the United States to select Panama for the site of the canal more than a century ago.
Canal proponents say those risks also are being assessed by internationally acclaimed companies. But despite scientists' demands, no studies for the project have been made public, and neither British environmental management firm ERM nor McKinsey and Co. — which is running economic feasibility studies — would comment for this article.
The
Smithsonian explains some other critical factors to the story.
Developed by Wang Jing, an enigmatic Chinese industrialist with ties to China’s ruling party, the Grand Nicaragua Canal will cost an estimated $40 billion and take five years to build. At 90 feet deep and 1,706 feet across at its widest, the channel will accommodate the newest cargo supertankers, which are longer than the Empire State Building is tall and carry 18,000 shipping containers. The vessels are too big to pass through the Panama Canal (even after a $5 billion expansion is completed) or to dock in any U.S. port.
The new canal and its infrastructure, from roads to pipelines to power plants, will destroy or alter nearly one million acres of rainforest and wetlands. And that doesn’t include Lake Nicaragua, a beloved 3,191-square-mile inland reservoir that provides most Nicaraguans with drinking water. The canal cuts through the lake, and critics say ship traffic will pollute the water with industrial chemicals and introduce destructive invasive plants and animals.
Plus, the canal route lies in the middle of a hurricane belt, says Robert Stallard, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. “You’re likely going to be looking at hurricanes vastly more powerful than anything that ever hit Panama, and ever will,” Stallard says. A storm like Hurricane Mitch, which killed 3,800 people in Nicaragua in 1998, would probably cause the canal to flood, triggering mudslides that would breach locks and dams. Communities, homes, roads and power lines would be swamped.
The Nicaraguan government states that this project will create jobs for an extremely impoverished nation. We don't know how many there will be. From the articles I have read almost all of the jobs will be filled by Chinese nationals. Like the XL Pipeline, the risk is awfully high.
