In 1978, as public reaction to the Love Canal landfill leak snowballed

Question

In 1978, as public reaction to the Love Canal landfill leak snowballed, the Environmental Protection Agency counted 425,000 industrial plants across the country jointly producing 45 million tons of toxic waste per year. Well over 50 percent of these wastes were not being disposed of according to existing public health standards. In November 1981, a ban was placed on burial of toxic wastes. This ban provided at best a stopgap to permit debate on long-term approaches to landfill regulation. At the same time, it exacerbated the problem of illicit abandonment of wastes. Unmarked barrels of toxic products, which could not be opened to determine their contents, were abandoned in deserted factories by bankrupt manufacturing firms or dropped off in empty fields by fly-by-night disposal companies, which multiplied as an indirect result of the ban.

The underlying reason for industry irresponsibility with regard to waste is economic. The Chemical Manufacturers’ Association denounced the landfill ban as unworkable and costly, while contending that even the currently permissible landfill techniques are unrealistically capital-intensive. Specifically, industry representatives claim that the EPA requires unnecessarily frequent and extensive site monitoring.

The Hazardous Waste Treatment Council, which represents companies involved in recovering, recycling, incinerating, biodegrading, evaporating, and chemically treating wastes, supports permanent landfill restrictions. The processes utilized by these companies face relatively little public opposition. Their sites tend to look from the outside like normal industrial plants, in contrast to the fenced-off "fallout zone” appearance of a landfill. Less appealing activities, such as landfarming (whereby wastes are handled in the traditional manner of horse manure—mixed with soil, aerated, and biodegraded by microorganisms) are generally located well away from cities. Most important, these processes leave no toxic end product which must be containerized and stored underground.

These procedures span a wide range of availability and cost-effectiveness. The electroplating industry, for example, produces some acidic wastes that can be neutralized by combination with everyday lime. At the opposite end of the cost-effectiveness spectrum, ion exchange chromatography provides an extremely costly, though safe, solution for other plating effluvia. Cooperative recycling, whereby a waste treatment company utilizes the wastes of one manufacturing process to neutralize those produced by another industry, has proved a great success in Germany. Its development in the United States has, unfortunately, been retarded by secrecy about product components.
Even if all known waste alternatives were operating at maximum potential, they still would not obviate the need for landfill. They would, however, provide a partial solution for the petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries in the face of regulatory stringency.  
 1 
 1. It can be inferred that the petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries.

A. have offered compelling arguments against EPA regulations
B. have largely relied until now on containerization and burial to dispose of toxic wastes 
C. are responsible for more public health violations than other industries 
D. are opposed on principle to government regulation of waste disposal
E. are more competitive and secretive about their processes than most U.S. industries

2 
 2. According to the passage, on which issue are the positions of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association and the Hazardous Waste Treatment Council opposed?

A. The viability of the EPA ban on burial of containerized waste 
B. The necessity of containerization and underground storage 
C. The necessity of stringent EPA landfill guidelines
D. The desirability of developing alternatives to current landfill technology 
E. The feasibility of using recovery/recycling processes in the U.S.

3 
 3.The alternatives to landfill mentioned in the third and fourth paragraphs are characterized by all of the following EXCEPT that.

A. they are not a major focus of conservationist protests 
B. some are not widely available in this country 
C. they require secrecy about product components 
D. their end products are nontoxic 
E. some are unrealistically expensive

4 
 4 According to the passage, all of the following statements are true of landfills EXCEPT that.

A. they were temporarily banned in late 1981
B. the Chemical Manufacturers' Association opposes the present laws regulating them
C. they tend to present an unsightly appearance 
D. their use is impeded by industrial secretiveness 
E. they cannot be completely eliminated at this time

Sajjad1994 · Accepted Answer

Explanation

1. It can be inferred that the petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries.

Explanation

Read in the first paragraph

the Environmental Protection Agency counted 425,000 industrial plants across the country jointly producing 45 million tons of toxic waste per year. Well over 50 percent of these wastes were not being disposed of according to existing public health standards. In November 1981, a ban was placed on burial of toxic wastes.

You can inferred that Option B.   have largely relied until now on containerization and burial to dispose of toxic wastes   is correct. All other options are irrelevant.

Answer: B

2. According to the passage, on which issue are the positions of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association and the Hazardous Waste Treatment Council opposed?

It is a Detail Question, In the second paragraph, the passage states that the CMA is opposed to the landfill ban for economic reasons. In the third paragraph, the passage reveals that HWTC  "supports permanent landfill restrictions."  Since landfill disposal requires burial,  (A) matches  the prediction and is the correct choice.

(B)  is incorrect because neither side actually disputes the need for some containerization and burial. The CMA is all for it, while the HWTC uses processes that do not require it.

(C) is tricky.  The CMA does dispute the specific guidelines, but the author never says that it disputes the necessity for some such guidelines.

Both (D) and (E)  focus on alternatives to current landfill and recycling techniques, which the CMA never discusses in the passage.

Answer: A

3.The alternatives to landfill mentioned in the third and fourth paragraphs are characterized by all of the following EXCEPT that.

Explanation

A.  they are not a major focus of conservationist protests  - Mentioned as  The processes utilized by these companies face relatively little public opposition.

B.  some are not widely available in this country  - Mentioned as  Less appealing activities, such as landfarming (whereby wastes are handled in the traditional manner of horse manure—mixed with soil, aerated, and biodegraded by microorganisms) are generally located well away from cities.

C.  they require secrecy about product components  -  Although word Secrecy is mentioned in the end of para number 4th but is not a requirement so it is correct.

D.  their end products are nontoxic  - Mentioned as  Most important, these processes leave no toxic end product which must be containerized and stored underground.

E.  some are unrealistically expensive  - Mentioned as  At the opposite end of the cost-effectiveness spectrum, ion exchange chromatography provides an extremely costly, though safe, solution for other plating effluvia

Answer: C

Hope it helps

sonalisadhwani · Answer

Cooperative recycling, whereby a waste treatment company utilizes the wastes of one manufacturing process to neutralize those produced by another industry, has proved a great success in Germany. Its development in the United States has, unfortunately, been retarded by secrecy about product components. 
Even if all known waste alternatives were operating at maximum potential, they still would not obviate the need for landfill. They would, however, provide a partial solution for the petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries in the face of regulatory stringency.

4 According to the passage, all of the following statements are true of landfills EXCEPT that.

A. they were temporarily banned in late 1981
B. the Chemical Manufacturers' Association opposes the present laws regulating them
C. they tend to present an unsightly appearance 
 D. their use is impeded by industrial secretiveness  
E. they cannot be completely eliminated at this time
 
Shouldnt D be the answer ? as D is True for Cooperative Recycling and not LANDFILLS?

ruchik · Answer

SajjadAhmad  I read the explanation provided as part of OA. But still it is not clear. If option D is not the answer choice we are saying "Landfills are impeded by industrial secretiveness" to be true. How can we conclude the above. The explanation refers to alternatives to landfills while the question refers to Landfills. Please correct me if i am wrong in my understanding.

swim2109 · Answer

In Q1, can you please answer specfically why D was discarded?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

D. are  opposed on principle  to government regulation of waste disposal

The language used in option D is too strong or extreme as the petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries are not opposing the principle they rather considering it as not workable due to the economic concerns, in other words, they think the standard procedure set by the government is too expensive to carry. Opposing the principle is too extreme here.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

4 According to the passage, all of the following statements are true of landfills EXCEPT that.

Difficulty Level: 700

Analyze the Question Stem:

Based on the words "according to the passage," this is a Detail question. Note that since this is an EXCEPT question, the correct answer choice will be the statement that is not true of landfills.

Research the Relevant Text:

Since much of the passage deals with landfills, research the individual choices.

Make a Prediction:

Because the correct choice will be something that is not in the passage, no prediction is possible.

Evaluate the Answer Choices:

(A)  is explicitly stated in the first paragraph. So this is an incorrect choice for this EXCEPT question.

(B)  is an incorrect choice because this opposition is clearly stated in the  second paragraph . The author compares most landfills too  "fallout zones"  in the  third paragraph . Since this is synonymous with  "unsightly,"  eliminate  (C) .

(D)  is not a true statement about landfills and is the correct choice. It is not landfill use that is impeded by industrial secrecy, but, rather, cooperative recycling. The  final paragraph  states that landfills are still needed, so  (E)  is, therefore, an incorrect choice.

Answer: D

TAKEAWAY:  Do not bother attempting to make a prediction for Detail EXCEPT questions.

In 1978, as public reaction to the Love Canal landfill leak snowballed

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

In 1978, as public reaction to the Love Canal landfill leak snowballed

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