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I would suggest that the Italian hydrologists cited in your article consider the law of unintended consequences. Similar actions begun in 1978 at an oil field in Wyoming drove methane to the surface and resulted in a large kill zone of the dominant sagebrush Artemisia tridentata.

James A. Erdman
Crestone, Colo.

The researchers in Italy say they would minimize pressure applied to the aquifer, so as not to crack strata that seal water in place .—S. Perkins