Among the myths taken as fact by the environmental managers of most corporations is the belief that environmental regulations affect all competitors in a given industry uniformly. In reality, regulatory costs — and therefore compliance — fall unevenly, economically disadvantaging some companies and benefiting others. For example, a plant situated near a number of larger noncompliant competitors is less likely to attract the attention of local regulators than is an isolated plant, and less attention means lower costs.

Additionally, large plants can spread compliance costs such as waste treatment across a larger revenue base; on the other hand, some smaller plants may not even be subject to certain provisions such as permit or reporting requirements by virtue of their size. Finally, older production technologies often continue to generate toxic wastes that were not regulated when the technology was first adopted. New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies still using older industrial coal-fired burners that generate high sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs, for example, whereas new facilities generally avoid processes that would create such waste products. By realizing that they have discretion and that not all industries are affected equally by environmental regulation, environmental managers can help their companies to achieve a competitive edge by anticipating regulatory pressure and exploring all possibilities for addressing how changing regulations will affect their companies specifically.


According to the passage, which of the following statements about sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs is true?


Older production technologies cannot be adapted so as to reduce production of these outputs as waste products.

Under the most recent environmental regulations, industrial plants are no longer permitted to produce these outputs.

Although these outputs are environmentally hazardous, some plants still generate them as waste products despite the high compliance costs they impose.

Many older plants have developed innovative technological processes that reduce the amounts of these outputs generated as waste products.

Since the production processes that generate these outputs are less costly than alternative processes, these less expensive processes are sometimes adopted despite their acknowledged environmental hazards.

考题讲解

题目分析:

文章细节题:关于二氧化硫和氧化氮,以下哪点是正确的?

原文:举个例子,新法规对那些仍然使用旧的、烧煤的、产生二氧化硫氧化氮的设备收收环保税,然而那些新的设备通常没有会避免生产这些有害物质的过程。


选项分析:

A选项:为了减少这些有害物质的产生,旧的生产技术不能用:原文没有提旧的生产技术还能不能用,只是说如果用,就要收更多钱。

B选项:在最新的环境法下,工业设备不再被允许生产这些物质:文章没有提允不允许产生这些物质,只是说会对产生这些物质的设备征更多税。

C选项:正确。尽管这些物质是对环境有害的,但一些工厂依旧会产生这些物质,尽管会被征很多税:根据原文推理,既然新法规对那些旧的设备征税,就说明依旧有工厂在用,如果没有工厂用,新法规也就不会做出这个规定。

D选项:
许多旧厂房发明了新的可以减少有害物质产生的生产过程:原文没有提旧厂房发明了新技术,只是说现在有了新技术,但没说谁发明的。

E选项:
因为会产生有害物质的过程比其他过程更省钱,这个更便宜的生产过程还是会被使用尽管对环境有害:原文没有提成本的事。

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