The number of other areas of pristine wilderness in the region is irrelevant to whether the Cape Simmons Nature Preserve will suffer environmental damage from oil drilling.

Oil drilling companies’ claims about the effects of drilling in Alphin Bay are irrelevant to the editorialist’s argument about the effects of drilling in Cape Simmons.

The editorialist makes no claims about whether oil drilling should or should not be allowed due to causing environmental damage, only whether it will cause environmental damage in the first place.

This justifies the editorialist’s assumption that the likely effects of oil drilling in Cape Simmons can be predicted from its effects in Alphin Bay, as the same modern drilling methods would be used in both cases.

This claim would potentially weaken the argument, as it provides possible alternate explanations for the environmental damage at Alphin Bay—namely, the other industrial activities taking place there. It certainly doesn’t strengthen.