Self-study
P1
The accumulation of scientific knowledge regarding the environmental impact of oil well drilling in North America has tended to lag behind the actual drilling of oil wells. ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██████ ███
Problem ·
Knowledge of environmental impact lags behind oil drilling
Regulation is retrospective (occurs only after something bad has happened), as opposed to prospective.
Example ·
Oil contaminating groundwater
I'm guessing passage's style is Problem Analysis... perhaps author will talk about solutions.
P2
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Background and Context of Problem ·
Early regulation aimed to protect oil, not ground water
That's crazy! Back then, the concern was about ground water contaminating oil not the other way around. I suppose that makes sense. It was the 1800s.
P3
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Mechanics of the Problem ·
Drilling removed barrier between oil and groundwater
Both are in porous "geologic formations" and drilling creates a tunnel connecting the two which is what causes contamination.
Initial Solution ·
Seal off groundwater with protective barrier
I'm imagining something like a huge straw that can suck the oil up past the groundwater layer without the oil leaking through the sides of the straw and hence no contamination.
P4
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Problem with solution ·
Regulations suffer from insufficient knowledge
Example of Problem ·
Long-term stability unknown
The "straw" could corrode, among other problems
Example of Problem ·
Existing regulations cannot accomodate unknown risks
A recent major disaster revealed poor understanding of west coast geology that resulted in widespread contamination. Passage fits Problem Analysis but also fits Critique. Author critiques the current solution as inadequate.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
5.
Based on the information in ███ ████████ ██ █ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██████████ █ █████ ███████████ █████████ ███ █ █████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██ █████
a
Groundwater contamination is ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ██████████
Perhaps groundwater contamination is unlikely from oil, but there still could be a high chance of contamination from other things,
b
Danger to human ██████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████
We don’t have any support for the claim that large cities “generally” have more than one source of drinking water.
c
Groundwater contamination is ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████
Although we know that contamination is “inevitable” if appropriate safeguards aren’t taken, this doesn’t imply that contamination is likely if the well isn’t abandoned. Maybe if appropriate safeguards are taken, contamination could be made unlikely (even if still possible). (C) would be better if it included, “if appropriate safeguards aren’t taken...”
d
Groundwater contamination is ████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ ███
The concept of dilution and its effects on contamination are not mentioned. We have no idea whether contamination is “unlikely” due to dilution of saline water.
e
The risk of ███████████ █████████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████████