The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a journal on environmental issues."Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land wi

The author of the letter avers that the Crust Copper Company, which has recently bought over 10,000 square miles of land in West Fredonia, will pollute local environment and put in danger several endangered species. The author proposes to abstain for purchasing of the CCC's products unless it gives up its plans to unearth copper. This writer's conclusion is based on several assumptions which should be carefully scrutinized in order to gauge the soundness of the argument.

First of all, we are told that some endangered species inhabit West Fredonia and that actions of CCC will inescapably lead to their extinction. However, the territory of West Fredonia may be enormous and these animals may live in one particular area and thus actions of CCC may not lead to animals' extinction and thus the environmental disaster may not happen.

Secondly, it is said that mining copper on this land will unavoidably cause the contamination of local nature. However, we have no information about what kind of minerals the CCC is going to unearth in this region. Perhaps, it may use the land for digging coal or oil, probably these minerals may be acquired without significant damage of the nature. In other words, the plans of the CCC is not clear and thus author's belief that the land will be used for mining copper is not supported properly, the land may be used for other purposes from mining coal to erection of new fancy hotel for company's employees.

Additionally to it, the argument claims that in order to undermine the CCC's plans to mine copper; the consumers ought to abstain from purchasing products that are made from company's copper. However, copper is rarely used in its pure condition for producing items and goods. Copper often is used in electric devices but perhaps it will be impossible to figure out where this material is used. Moreover, the company may not produce any goods but instead it specializes on selling raw material which is processed by other companies, in this case, it will be difficult to boycott the products produced from CCC’s copper. Consequently, there is not guarantee that the CCC will change its policy because of this proposed idea and thus the disaster may not be prevented by this mean.

In conclusion, the author of the letter asserts that the company, which has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in West Fredonia, will use it for mining copper and thus it will ruin local environment and cause extinction of some endangered species. However, any of these claims is not supported properly and thus they may be considered as unwarranted. Moreover, the author's proposal to stop the CCC may not lead to expected result as well. Consequently, the argument is weak and requires additional data to be accepted.