Question

The Hazelton coal-processing plant is a major employer in the Hazelton area, but national environmental regulations will force it to close if it continues to use old, polluting processing methods. However, to update the plant to use newer, cleaner methods would be so expensive that the plant will close unless it receives the tax break it has requested. In order to prevent a major increase in local unemployment, the Hazelton government is considering granting the plant's request.
Which of the following would be most important for the Hazelton government to determine before deciding whether to grant the plant's request?

• A. Whether the company that owns the plant would open a new plant in another area if the present plant were closed
• B. Whether the plant would employ far fewer workers when updated than it does now
• C. Whether the level of pollutants presently being emitted by the plant is high enough to constitute a health hazard for local residents
• D. Whether the majority of the coal processed by the plant is sold outside the Hazelton area
• E. Whether the plant would be able to process more coal when updated than it does now

Hint:

When a question asks what is "most important" for a decision-maker to know, focus on their stated goal. The most important piece of information will be the one that most directly confirms or denies whether their proposed action will achieve that specific goal.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Government's Goal
The core issue is a decision the Hazelton government must make about a tax break for a coal plant.
The Goal: The government's stated motivation for considering the tax break is "to prevent a major increase in local unemployment."
The Dilemma: Granting the tax break costs the government money, but not granting it could lead to the plant's closure and subsequent job losses. The government wants to ensure that its action (granting the tax break) will actually achieve its goal (preventing unemployment).

Step 2: Analyzing the Task
The question asks what would be "most important" for the government to determine. This means we are looking for a piece of information that would most directly help the government evaluate whether granting the tax break is a sensible way to achieve its primary objective of preserving local jobs.

Step 3: Evaluating the Options
(A) The company's actions in another area are not the primary concern of the Hazelton government. Their focus is on Hazelton's unemployment rate.
(B) This option is directly relevant to the government's goal. The whole point of the tax break is to save the jobs at the plant. However, if the process of updating the plant (which the tax break would enable) involves significant automation or streamlining that would lead to laying off "far fewer workers," then the government's action might not be effective. They might be giving a tax break only to find that a large number of jobs are lost anyway. Knowing the answer to this question is crucial to assessing the effectiveness of the proposed policy.
(C) While the health hazard is a very important issue for the government to consider in general, the text frames the decision specifically in terms of preventing unemployment. The government is already weighing the economic benefit (jobs) against the known environmental problem. This question addresses the severity of the environmental side, but the primary stated goal is economic. The most important question relates directly to that stated goal.
(D) Where the coal is sold is a matter of the plant's business model and has no direct bearing on the number of local people it employs.
(E) The plant's processing capacity after the update relates to its potential productivity or profitability, not directly to the number of jobs it will provide. While a more productive plant might be more stable in the long run, the immediate impact on employment numbers is the key issue here.
Step 4: Final Answer
Option (B) is the correct answer. Since the government's entire rationale for the tax break is to prevent unemployment, it is essential for them to determine if the plan will actually save a significant number of jobs. If the updated plant would employ far fewer people, the tax break would be a poor investment towards their stated goal.