Opponent of Offshore Oil Drilling: The projected benefits of

Opponent of Offshore Oil Drilling: The projected benefits of drilling new oil wells in certain areas in the outer continental shelf are not worth the risk of environmental disaster. The oil already being extracted from these areas currently provides only 4 percent of our country's daily oil requirement, and the new wells would only add one-half of 1 percent.

Proponent of Offshore Oil Drilling: Dont be ridiculous! You might just as well argue that new farms should not be allowed, since no new farm could supply the total food needs of our country for more than a few minutes.


Which of the following, if true, weakens the drilling proponent's reply?

A) New farms do not involve a risk analogous to that run by new offshore oil drilling
B) Many of the largest oil deposits are located under land that isunsuitable for farming.
C) Unlike oil, common agricultural products fulfill nutritional needs rather than fuel requirements.
D) Legislation governing new oil drilling has been much more throughly articulated than has that governing new farms
E) The country under discussion imports a higher proportion of the farm products it needs than it does of the oil it needs.