Highlight the author’s conclusions:

p1:
there are three serious problems with this method of waste disposal

p4: 
The significant uncertainty about where injected wastes will flow, along with the possibilities of mechanical failure and human error, makes deep-well injection a risky means of managing hazardous wastes.

Map the wording of the answers to the reference in the prompt, or to the author’s conclusions:

1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions.

(A) …when expensive precautionary measures are not taken.

The author didn’t call out any exceptions to their conclusion like this, and they never even said there were “expensive precautionary measures”.

(B) …it is generally safe…

This is the exact opposite of the author’s main conclusion.

(C) …has wholly supplanted alternative methods…

This doesn’t sound like either of the author’s conclusions. And the passage didn’t say anything this extreme, only that “many industries have turned to” deep-well injection.

(D) …is seriously problematic.

Boom! This sounds exactly like the author’s conclusions, without bringing in anything new or too specific.

(E) …is important…

You could reasonably guess the author agrees with this, but they didn’t make any arguments about “design and location” being “important”.

(D) is the correct answer.

2. The passage most strongly suggests that which one of the following is true?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. The answer could rely on a little detail, but you don’t know where to look for it. So start by eliminating answers that don’t align with the author’s conclusions.

(A) …is no longer considered safe.

The support in the passage is only about why deep-well injection is unsafe, so we have no support for this. The only time these things get mentioned is at the beginning when the author says “expenses for landfills and incinerators have increased significantly in recent years”.

(B) …is less expensive but much more dangerous than…

This doesn’t map to the author’s conclusions at all. And if you check where the passage mentions “300” and “1,800 meters”, there’s no comparison about which is more “expensive” or “dangerous”.

(C) …can contaminate aquifers…

You love that the subject of this is the same as the subject of the author’s conclusions, that it describes deep-well injection in a similar way, and that it uses really weak wording. It doesn’t say they “always” or “usually” contaminate aquifers, just that it’s possible. All those green flags say don’t do any re-reading to double check this unless there’s another answer that maps even close to as strongly as this does.

(D) …unlike deep-well injection…

This answer isn’t even totally coherent. “Deep-well injection” is a type of “disposal of hazardous wastes”, so they can’t be “unlike” in this way. Maybe if it said “other methods of disposal…” But this doesn’t make any sense.

(E) …are usually deeper than…

That would seem to weaken the author’s conclusions, since their list of problems included “pollution of aquifers”. This isn’t supported by the passage.

(C) is the correct answer.

3. Which one of the following would, if true, most strengthen the author’s position…

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. You want to see more support for one of the problems listed in their main conclusion.

(A) Few of the rock formations…suitable for deep-well injection…are…connected to sources of drinkable groundwater.

A lot of extra words to tell us something that would clearly make the problems in the author’s conclusion less serious.

(B) …thoroughly tested for their effects on nonhuman organisms.

The author’s argument is only about risks to “societies”. They said so right at the beginning, and again at the end of the passage. So their conclusion has nothing to do with “nonhuman organisms”.

(C) …are many miles from the industrial facilities that use them for waste disposal.

What does that have to do with “the risks of deep-well injection”? If you see a connection, I’d suggest you’re adding in your own reasoning to get there. How far companies go to do the deep-well injection thing doesn’t impact the author’s argument.

(D) …less predictable than most geologists believe.

This maps nicely to the author’s conclusion about “the significant uncertainty about where injected wastes will flow”. If this is true, that would be an even bigger problem.

(E) Methods of predicting…have significantly improved…

A perfect “weaken” answer, but the exact opposite of what we want on this one. This would definitely make the “uncertainty” problem the author talked about less of an issue.

(D) is the correct answer.

4. According to the passage, which one of the following is true of underground water?

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. A quick search tells you we learned two things about “underground water”: paragraph one says “growing numbers of communities” rely on it, and paragraph three says it “does not flow entirely under the influence of gravity”. The right answer will say one of those two things.

(E) …due to factors other than gravity.

Winner! This is the only answer that matches one of those two references in the passage. This is how it wants to go when the prompt tells you where to look. Moving on.

(E) is the correct answer.

5. Based on the passage, which one of the following most accurately states the purpose of deep-well injection…

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. The right answer will match something from the background info on deep-well injection in the first paragraph.

(A) It serves as a short-term storage method…

Stop. The author didn’t say anything about how long the waste stays down there, or about it becoming “neutralized”.

(B) It makes aboveground hazardous-waste disposal methods obsolete.

That’s too strong. The passage says it’s just an “alternative”, and never uses a word that means other methods are done for. This is the only time I’ve ever seen the word “aboveground” though, so it has that going for it.

(C) It contains hazardous wastes in saltwater-saturated underground areas.

Yup, the passage said “liquid wastes are then injected into the rock strata” “that are already saturated with salt water”. Once you find that, you know you don’t need to read (D) or (E).

(D) …that can easily be continuously and reliably monitored.

Nobody picked this, right? The author’s argument included the exact opposite point, that it’s “nearly impossible to predict” what the waste might get up to once it’s underground.

(E) It recycles certain low-toxicity wastes.

Wrong on both counts. There’s nothing about recycling, in fact it’s quite the opposite isn’t it? And “low-toxicity wastes” wouldn’t really be as much of a problem as the author is arguing. This doesn’t map to anything stated in the passage.

(C) is the correct answer.

6. According to the passage, deep-well injection of hazardous wastes has become

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. The author said deep-well injection “has become a matter of controversy as growing numbers of communities come to rely on underground sources of drinking water.”

(A) more controversial because of an increased dependence on underground sources of drinking water.

Love this. It sounds exactly like the reference in the passage, and it’s (A). Thank you, LSAT. Moving on!

(B) …an increase in toxin-related illnesses…

The author never cites a fact like that in their argument.

(C) more widely accepted…

(D) more widely accepted…

(E) more widely accepted…

Nope, the author’s argument is that it’s become more “controversial”.

(A) is the correct answer.

7. Based on the passage, which one of the following most accurately describes…

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. Probably the easiest thing to pick out from that whole long explanation in the first paragraph is that the injection wants to be between 300 and 1,800 meters deep. I’d check all the answers for that first and start eliminating. Then get into more details only if you have to, and only with the ones that survive the first test.

(A) At 300 meters or more…a layer of impermeable rock…

This passes the depth test, but if it’s “impermeable”, how are you gonna inject anything in there? You’re not, and that’s what gets this one eliminated.

(B) At 300 meters or more…a layer of permeable rock…

This passes the depth test and fixes the permeable/impermeable issue in (A). Let’s hang on to this one.

(C) …from near the surface to a depth of…

Nope, we want to be at a “minimum” of 300 meters deep.

(D) At a depth of 300 meters or less…

This one fails the depth test too.

(E) …a depth of 1,800 meters or more.

Nope, too deep.

(B) is the correct answer.