Economic and environmental trade-offs of limited oil discovery

Steps:

• Identify the decision: Company halts exploration due to insufficient oil for national or export scale, only local use.
• Determine advantages: Reduced need for environmental safeguards like pollution research, saving government or company costs.
• Determine disadvantages: Forgone access to potentially affordable local oil supply for energy needs.
• Match to options: Select pair aligning with cost savings and resource loss without contradicting the limited oil premise.

Why B is correct:

• Aligns with environmental economics principle: Minimal extraction reduces pollution monitoring costs while local oil scarcity raises energy import expenses.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: Conservation is valid, but taxes likely decrease only if no prior operations; decision avoids future taxes, not cuts existing ones.
• C: Research savings apply to company, not Namibia directly; employment loss is possible but not tied to limited oil scale.
• D: Halting prevents exhaustion; exports were never viable per announcement.

Final answer: B