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Prons and corns of environmental and social impact assessment
Prons and corns of environmental and social impact assessment
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This essay is a critique for “Pipeline raises tough choice: Jobs vs. environment” by the reporter from CNBC, Bertha Coombs. The author provided arguments between energy labors and environmentalists on the TransCanada’s seven billion dollar project called Keystone XL. The project will transfer million barrels of oil from Canada through the states in the U.S. The supporters of the project presented the benefit of the campaign, as it provided more full-time job opportunities and add more money in annual spending to the U.S. economy. One the other hand, the people who are opposed to Keystone XL (the environmentalists) said that a project would raise higher level of pollution, which may affect mental health due to the high risk of oil leaks. In this article, both sides committed logical fallacies, which can be identified as false dichotomy and slippery slope. Firstly, the logical fallacy called false dichotomy can be found in James Miller’s statement. In the article, Miller, the TransCanada spokesman, mentioned that we must choose between a huge income and environment. Miller said that the project contributed so much benefit to the U.S. economy. Moreover, it will create more job opportunities for 20,000 people. Therefore, one should not worry about the environment (Miller, 2011). According to the statement above, Miller clearly committed logical fallacies, which is false dichotomy. The fallacy that is concerned with only two possibilities for the event, even though there are more possible choices. As in the second line of the sixth paragraph, it is seen that Miller provided limited choices for people to choose either one or the other by saying “We have to choose” (Miller, 2011). To avoid occurrence of the fallacie... ... middle of paper ... ... explaining statement irrelevantly. Both fallacies weaken their statements and make them fail in convincing people to agree with their points of view. In order to make their points more reasonable, they both should provide more possible answers with sufficient evidences from reliable sources. Works Cited Coombs, B. (2011, September 28). Pipeline Raises Tough Choice: Jobs vs Environment. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.cnbc.com/id/44704934 Pipelines International. (2011). A heavy requirement: environmentally friendly pipeline weighting. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://pipelinesinternational.com/news/ a_heavy_requirement_environmentally_friendly_pipeline_weighting/063315/ Williams, T. (2012, July 5). Pipelines: Environmental Considerations. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2012-37-e.htm#a3