{"id":155271,"date":"2026-02-07T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/155271\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:52:13","slug":"texas-opens-americas-first-lithium-plant-from-oilfield-wastewater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/155271\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Opens America\u2019s First Lithium Plant From Oilfield Wastewater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/662dac56b4f45d0ecfcffb1ad62c1d0b.jpeg\" alt=\"Texas Opens America\u2019s First Lithium Plant From Oilfield Wastewater\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"540\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other dignitaries at Element3 ribbon cutting ceremony Image by Office of the Texas Governornews release      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Texas Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated in Midland the opening of the first facility in America to extract lithium from wastewater produced by the oil industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The Element3 Resources Permian Basin Lithium Extraction and Carbonate facility represents a significant advance in domestic production of a critical battery component. This facility could help reduce the United States\u2019 reliance on foreign lithium supplies at a critical time. Demand for lithium has surged as electric vehicles and energy storage systems become increasingly common nationwide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cTexas is America\u2019s undisputed energy leader,\u201d Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/gov.texas.gov\/news\/post\/governor-abbott-cuts-ribbon-at-element3-lithium-extraction-facility\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:said;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">said<\/a> at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. \u201cThe future of America depends on producing the elements essential to our supply chain for products we use every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The governor emphasized lithium\u2019s strategic importance beyond consumer goods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cLithium is one of those elements critical to batteries, advanced manufacturing, and national defense,\u201d Abbott added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Abbott praised what he called \u201cquintessential Texas ingenuity\u201d in the project\u2019s approach. Element3\u2019s technology extracts lithium from briny water that oil and gas operations typically dispose of as waste.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cBy the grace of God, we have lithium and other essential rare earth materials right here in our own state,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cElement3\u2019s plan is the epitome of quintessential Texas ingenuity, building the first lithium carbonate production plant from oilfield waste right here in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The governor thanked the Trump administration for prioritizing American mineral self-reliance and declared that the future of America\u2019s mineral dominance is happening in Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Several federal officials attended the ceremony, including U.S. Department of Energy commercialization chief Anthony Pugliese. Element3 founder and CEO Hood Whitson, Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, and retired Space Force Major General John M. Olson also joined the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Element3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.element3.io\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:focuses;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">focuses<\/a> on extracting lithium and other materials from wastewater streams in the petroleum industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The Midland facility represents a potential win-win for Texas energy interests. It could transform an environmental liability into a valuable revenue stream while boosting domestic mineral production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other dignitaries at Element3 ribbon cutting ceremony Image by Office of the Texas&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13868,64078,392,64077,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-155271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-domestic-production","10":"tag-greg-abbott","11":"tag-lithium-carbonate","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}