PrepTest 116, Section 1, Question 1

Working the answers

• A

  Contamination is inevitable without appropriate safeguards when the well connects the specified formations. That's different from saying it is inevitable wherever drilling occurs. A also leaves out the problem with hindsight and incomplete knowledge.

• B

  This is true of the final example, including the international concern. But that example illustrates the broader pattern of learning about dangers after a disaster. It isn't the whole point.

• C

  Relying on hindsight doesn't establish that hindsight is reliable, much less the only reliable way to write adequate rules. The writer is concerned about the limitations of this approach, not recommending it as sufficient.

• D
  Correct

  This captures both the continuing risk and the reason: regulation reacts to damage while important questions remain unanswered. Groundwater needn't appear in the answer because it illustrates that general problem.

• E

  The early rules did neglect groundwater. But the discussion moves beyond that historical mistake to uncertainty about present safeguards and unfamiliar geological hazards. E is too narrow to state the main point.