Bunuel wrote:
Until the Federal government began providing low-cost flood insurance to coastal property owners, construction along beaches was limited by owners' fears that their property would be washed away. Since the insurance was made available, however, beachfront construction has boomed and land erosion has increased at a dangerous rate.
Which of the following, if feasible, offers the best prospects for the Federal government to put a stop to the problem of land erosion along beaches?
A. prohibiting beachfront property owners from embellishing or adding to existing buildings
B. utilizing computer science techniques to obtain detailed information on the extent and rapidity of land erosion along beaches
C enacting building codes requiring new beachfront structures in flood-threatened areas to be elevated above the high water level of a storm
D compensating beachfront property owners for moving to a new location off the coast while canceling flood insurance benefits for any new or remaining beachfront construction
E. requiring beachfront property owners receiving flood insurance coverage to adopt construction standards that will protect their buildings from inundation
The goal of the question is to choose which
solution offers the most tangible results to the problem of land erosion. The prompt shows that there is a
causal relationship between beachfront buildings and land erosion, therefore we need to choose the option that
reduces or eliminates these beachfront buildings.
A: prohibiting beachfront property owners from embellishing or adding to existing buildings. The buildings are still there on the beachfront and therefore they still cause land erosion. Even if the federal government elects to prohibit new constructions, it doesn't solve the problem at hand.
IRRELEVANT.B: utilizing computer science techniques to obtain detailed information on the extent and rapidity of land erosion along beaches.Using CS to assess land erosion damage doesn't offer a tangible solution to the problem of land erosion.
IRRELEVANT.C: enacting building codes requiring new beachfront structures in flood-threatened areas to be elevated above the high water level of a storm.Same issue as A. The beachfront structures are still there, if somewhat elevated. They still cause land erosion damage.
IRRELEVANT.D: compensating beachfront property owners for moving to a new location off the coast while canceling flood insurance benefits for any new or remaining beachfront construction.Here, the federal government offers an incentive to property owners to move off coast thereby reducing future coast constructions. In addition, canceling flood insurance benefits for existing beachfront constructions will force owners to either sell off or destroy their buildings since they are not covered by the insurance. This double whammy ensures that the land erosion issue is solved.
CORRECT ANSWER.
E: requiring beachfront property owners receiving flood insurance coverage to adopt construction standards that will protect their buildings from inundation.This answer deals with protecting owners from inundation and has nothing to do with addressing the land erosion problem.
IRRELEVANT.
Hope that helps.