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LUFKIN — An East Texas Republican state lawmaker wants to hit pause on a proposed large-scale water extraction from his part of the state.

State Rep. Cody Harris , a Palestine Republican, has introduced a pair of bills that would impose some of the strictest limits on groundwater pumping in the state and require a study of the portion of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer that sits beneath Anderson, Houston and Henderson counties, which are in East Texas. The legislation effectively halts the efforts of a Dallas businessman who has sought permission to drill more than 40 high-capacity water wells in that area.

One of th

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