Reading Comprehension

Among the myths taken as fact by the environmental managers of most corporations is the Line 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 non-compliant 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.

463) It can be inferred from the passage that a large plant might have to spend more than a similar but smaller plant on environmental compliance because the larger plant is
(A) more likely to attract attention from local regulators
(B) less likely to be exempt from permit and reporting requirements
(C) less likely to have regulatory costs passed on to it by companies that supply its raw materials
(D) more likely to employ older production technologies
(E) more likely to generate wastes that are more environmentally damaging than those generated by smaller plants

464) According to the passage, which of the following statements about sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs is true?
(A) Older production technologies cannot be adapted so as to reduce production of these outputs as waste products.
(B) Under the most recent environmental regulations, industrial plants are no longer permitted to produce these outputs.
(C) Although these outputs are environmentally hazardous, some plants still generate them as waste products despite the high compliance cost they impose.
(D) Many older plants have developed innovative technological processes that reduce the amounts of these outputs generated as waste products.
(E) 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.

465) Which of the following best describes the relationship of the statement about large plants (lines 18-26) to the passage as a whole?
(A) It presents a hypothesis that is disproved later in the passage.
(B) It highlights an opposition between two ideas mentioned in the passage.
(C) It provides examples to support a claim made earlier in the passage.
(D) It exemplifies a misconception mentioned earlier in the passage.
(E) It draws an analogy between two situations described in the passage.

466) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) address a widespread environmental management problem and suggest possible solutions
(B) illustrate varying levels of compliance with environmental regulation among different corporations
(C) describe the various alternatives to traditional methods of environmental management
(D) advocate increased corporate compliance with environmental regulation
(E) correct a common misconception about the impact of environmental regulations

Q463: B
Q464: C
Q465: C
Q466: E