PrepTest 145, Section 2, Question 1
An electric utility has determined that a new(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(9 more words not shown)
- AModern gas-fired power(15 more words not shown)
- BIn the area(21 more words not shown)
- CThe waste-to-energy plant(17 more words not shown)
- DMost of the(12 more words not shown)
- EThe vast majority(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would environmentalists support the plant that produces more air pollution? Burning trash has an obvious attraction: we get electricity while getting rid of waste. But that doesn't automatically make it the better environmental choice. We have to consider what else happens when we choose it.
Maybe using the trash means we need fewer landfills, leaving more land available for forests. Or perhaps air pollution is only a small part of these plants' environmental effects, and the waste-to-energy plant does better on something important that hasn't been mentioned. Those are possibilities to investigate, not facts we can assume.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to justify the environmentalists' support. We need a reason why the waste-to-energy option makes environmental sense despite its apparently worse pollution figure. Comparing the two plants' smokestacks may leave out an important benefit.
Working the answers
- A
This compares a modern gas-fired plant with an old gas-fired plant. Our choice is between a new gas-fired plant and a waste-to-energy plant. Making the modern gas option look better than older versions gives us no reason to favor the waste option over it.
- B
More demand for electricity and more trash help explain why a combined plant sounds useful. But we already know a new power plant is needed. Growing demand doesn't tell us what environmental advantage would justify choosing the option that appears to pollute more. We still need that comparison.
- CCorrect
Now count the pollution we would eliminate. The waste-to-energy plant would replace an existing incinerator that pollutes even more than the new waste-to-energy plant would. Choosing it could therefore reduce air pollution while also supplying electricity.
The gas plant has the cleaner smokestack when we compare only the two proposed plants. But choosing gas would not give us this replacement of the old incinerator. Keeping that much dirtier incinerator and adding a gas plant is a very different comparison from looking at the new plants alone. This gives the environmentalists a concrete reason to support the waste-to-energy option.
- D
If anything, this makes their preference more puzzling until we learn what else the choice would accomplish. Saying air pollution is a serious problem doesn't explain why they favor a plant that appears to produce more of it.
- E
Trucks and cars can produce most of the area's pollution while the choice between these plants still matters. A smaller contributor is still a contributor. E supplies no environmental advantage of waste-to-energy over gas, so it doesn't explain the preference.
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