Twenty years ago, Balzania put in place regulations requiring operators of surface mines to pay for the reclamation of mined-out land. Since then, reclamation technology has not improved. Yet, the average reclamation cost for a surface coal mine being reclaimed today is only four dollars per ton of coal that the mine produced, less than half what it cost to reclaim surface mines in the years immediately after the regulations took effect.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the drop in reclamation costs described?
T-4-Q2 Twenty years ago, Balzania put in place regulations requiring operators of surface mines to pay for the reclamation of mined-out land. Since then, reclamation technology has not improved. Yet, the average reclamation cost for a surface coal mine being reclaimed today is only four dollars per ton of coal that the mine produced, less than half what it cost to reclaim surface mines in the years immediately after the regulations took effect.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the drop in reclamation costs described?
A. Even after Balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, coal mines in Balzania continued to be less expensive to operate than coal mines in almost any other country. B. In the twenty years since the regulations took effect, the use of coal as a fuel has declined from the level it was at in the previous twenty years. C. Mine operators have generally ceased surface mining in the mountainous areas of Balzania because reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high for mines in such areas. D. Even after Balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, surface mines continued to produce coal at a lower total cost than underground mines. E. As compared to twenty years ago, a greater percentage of the coal mined in Balzania today comes from surface mines.
这里C就给出了一个原因,虽然技术没变,但是不同地区的矿花的成本不一样,山区的每吨煤要花更多的人工啊机器啊电啊之类的。现在我放弃山区了,我的平均成本自然就下来了。(你看选项还特仁慈地帮你直接把结果都写出来了——reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high)