But now, they\u2019re learning that deep beneath their feet is salty water that could become a key resource in the United States\u2019 global fight for full energy independence.<\/p>\n
The Smackover Formation, which broadly sweeps from East Texas to Florida and once gushed with oil, is now being hailed as containing some of the purest lithium brine in the world.<\/p>\n
Hicks, one of the most vocal local leaders with opposition to industrial-scale solar projects<\/a>, actually welcomes the potential lithium can bring to the community.<\/p>\n B.F. Hicks lays out maps and talks to The Dallas Morning News about lithium leases in Franklin County on Feb. 5, 2026, in his Mount Vernon law office. <\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The historian and longtime attorney has signed a lithium lease for a portion of his pristine Daphne Prairie<\/a>; he\u2019s now helping others do the same. He\u2019s hoping to get the best deal for his clients \u2013 and perhaps most important, make sure the surface land is as protected and preserved as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to call myself an environmentalist,\u201d Hicks said, bringing his freckled hands to his face as he looked down at the map. \u201cBut this is going to bring a lot of money into our community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Another opportunity to prosper\u2019<\/p>\n U.S. consumption of lithium is projected to increase 74% annually by 2029<\/a>, according to a recent report from S&P Global. Future investments in processing could transform the lithium supply chain, boosting local production and decreasing reliance on foreign sources.<\/p>\n Electric vehicles have been, and will continue to be, the largest consumer of lithium globally, but grid-scale battery energy storage systems<\/a> are expected to drive lithium demand, a symptom of the increasing emphasis on grid stability as electrification continues and renewable energy sources multiply. BESS can also be used to power the surging number of data centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n While its infrastructure isn\u2019t ready to meet domestic needs, North America\u2019s lithium sector is poised for significant growth. And Texas \u2013 already an energy powerhouse independent of lithium \u2013 is emerging as a major focus of that activity.<\/p>\n Already, some of the world\u2019s largest energy companies, like ExxonMobil <\/a>and Chevron<\/a>, have staked claim to portions of the Smackover Formation, announcing drilling and large acquisitions of land. The former said it is targeting its first lithium production for 2027.<\/p>\n A derrickman guides pipes into a block while drilling a direct lithium extraction test well on Nov. 11, 2025, in Franklin County.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Standard Lithium, a leading near-commercial lithium company from Canada who has had a presence in the formation\u2019s Arkansas region for years, created Smackover Lithium<\/a>, a joint venture with Norwegian energy company Equinor.<\/p>\n Other players are also placing bets on the Smackover, including GeoFrame Energy, and newly founded T5 Smackover Partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n The businessmen are quick to assure residents that the race for lithium isn\u2019t a gold rush or boom-and-bust scenario, but some have admitted the early stages, including landmen knocking on doors for leasing, has felt a little like the Wild West.<\/p>\n \u201cGod has granted us in rural northeast Texas another opportunity to prosper,\u201d Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian said during a crowded town hall hosted by Smackover Lithium in Mount Pleasant last fall.<\/p>\n Christian compared what lithium extraction could be to previous prosperous ventures in oil and gas in Texas. He said the area has the opportunity to change the world while benefiting from the economic impact, including tax boosts and new jobs.<\/p>\n He listed products that have lithium-ion batteries and talked about the electrification of energy, boasting the significance of powering artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \u201cGod looked down again and said, \u2018I guess they need a little lithium for this stuff and batteries,\u2019\u201d Christian told the crowd. \u201cAnd, where did he pick? Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian deliveries a speech on the pros of lithium extraction in Northeast Texas during a community meeting held by Smackover Lithium on Nov. 11, 2025, in Titus County.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Fierce race for critical minerals<\/p>\n The U.S. has remained dependent on lithium imports from Latin America and China. But recent efforts, like what\u2019s taking place in the Smackover Formation, are trying to remedy that.<\/p>\n Currently, Nevada<\/a> is a leader in domestic lithium projects, and has the only fully-functional lithium mine. Still, energy companies have been eyeing lithium in the Lone Star State for a while, even figuring out how to give new life to produced water from oil and gas operations.<\/p>\n Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott joined Fort Worth-based Element3 in the Permian Basin as it opened its lithium carbonate production plant that will use oilfield waste, a first-of-its-kind facility in the U.S. in half a century.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas is America\u2019s undisputed energy leader,\u201d Abbott said at the event. \u201cThe future of America depends on producing the elements essential to our supply chain for products we use every day. \u2026 By the grace of God, we have lithium and other essential rare earth materials right here in our own state.\u201d<\/p>\n On the opposite side of the state, Mariana Minerals and Select Water Solutions broke ground in the Haynesville shale region last fall on the Texas\u2019 first commercially produced water lithium extraction facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n And down south, Tesla earlier this year opened a lithium refinery<\/a> in Robstown, near Corpus Christi. Elon Musk called it the \u201cmost advanced lithium refinery in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Old oil fields throughout Texas are being reimagined into lithium sources<\/a>, but the Smackover has drawn the most interest \u2013 becoming ground zero in the effort to produce lithium, according to a 2024 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.<\/p>\n Bromine has been extracted from the Smackover in Arkansas for decades, but commercial interest in the formation\u2019s lithium is much more recent \u2013 likely beginning less than a decade ago.<\/p>\n Cattle grazes in a pasture surrounding a direct lithium extraction test well on Nov. 11, 2025, in Franklin County.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n \u201cDemand for lithium has boomed in recent years amid rising global sales of electric vehicles and increasing use of lithium-ion batteries to store electricity,\u201d the report said. \u201cThese developments \u2013 important features of the energy transition \u2013 are expected to continue, with many forecasts anticipating a doubling or tripling of lithium demand by the end of the decade.”<\/p>\n A distinguishing feature of the Smackover is the technology. <\/p>\n In other parts of the world, lithium is generally produced using massive evaporation ponds or from hard rock mines. But in the Smackover, and other basins in the region, companies are using direct lithium extraction (DLE).<\/p>\n This approach utilizes a much smaller footprint of the surface by drilling a well thousands of feet into the ground, pumping the brine from the aquifer to the surface, treating it at a facility, then pumping the brine sans lithium back into the underground reservoir. <\/p>\n A Standard Lithium and Equinor tour group visits a Northeast Texas test well site, Nov. 11, 2025, in Franklin County. <\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n \u2018Texas lithium for Texas\u2019<\/p>\n The race for lithium has been both fast and slow.<\/p>\n To keep a competitive edge, companies like Smackover Lithium, initially moved throughout the region quietly. They first wandered over the state line from its Arkansas operations four or five years ago. Leasing, in earnest, began within the last couple years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were trying to secure the best resources in the state, which we have done,\u201d Standard Lithium president and COO Andy Robinson, said. \u201cWe\u2019re super pleased with what we\u2019ve done over the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, the company has shifted to talking publicly about its efforts in the formation, and up first is the Franklin Project. Robinson said Standard Lithium prides itself on transparency.<\/p>\n In October, the company hosted a half-day workshop at the Mt. Pleasant Civic Center in Titus County. The room was packed with curious residents, attorneys who had been advising on leases like Hicks and Wyatt Hinson, and industry folks from as far as Houston who wanted to hear firsthand what was taking place in northeast Texas.<\/p>\n Attorneys B.F. Hicks, left, and Wyatt Hinson listen to a presentation on direct lithium extraction in Northeast Texas during a community meeting held by Smackover Lithium on Nov. 11, 2025, in Titus County.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The discussion went in depth, even pointing out lithium on the periodic table at one point, but finally gave community members access to company executives, technical experts and regulators. <\/p>\n They shared what they\u2019ve done with lithium extraction and processing in Arkansas, answered questions and tried to ease any concerns about how, what or why.<\/p>\n Leadership also wanted to make clear that despite flashy headlines: There isn\u2019t a boom.<\/p>\n \u201cThese things are not overnight by any stretch of the imagination,\u201d Robinson said in an interview ahead of the workshop. \u201cThey take years to de-risk and develop and understand before you\u2019re ready to build and produce from a project.\u201d<\/p>\n A derrickman guides pipes into a block while drilling a direct lithium extraction test well on Nov. 11, 2025, in Franklin County.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Robinson said these are long-lived, long-life assets.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are in production, particularly lithium brine projects, for decades,\u201d he said. \u201cSo whilst I understand there\u2019s a new emphasis on lithium and people like to think of booms, etcetera, it\u2019s actually kind of a long, slow, slightly boring industry. They\u2019re going to be there for a long time and they operate for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n After the civic center cleared, some Smackover Lithium employees hopped in their vehicles and drove a few miles nearby to one of their test sites.<\/p>\n Dressed in hard hats and protective glasses, they watched crews funnel thin pipes into the ground from atop a tall, temporary rig that overlooked a chicken farm and roaming cattle.<\/p>\n Drilling superintendent Matt Dangerfield explained the process, which was testing the pressure, seeing how the brine would flow and collecting samples from different distances. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is Texas lithium for Texas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Couldn\u2019t be better positioned\u2019<\/p>\n On a stretch of warm, sunny days in early February, the Plantinga brothers, Sjouke and Auke, tended to their family business at Pleasant Hill Dairy.<\/p>\n Far away from the milking operations, a wellhead from a testing site sits on their property in a grazing field. <\/p>\n Dairy farmer Sjouke Plantinga leans against barn railing while Jersey heifers poke their heads out on Feb. 6, 2026, in Franklin County. <\/p>\n Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The Plantingas, who immigrated with their parents from the Netherlands to the Purley community of Franklin County in 1986, were among the first to sign a lithium lease.<\/p>\n \u201cWe signed way too early to tell you the truth,\u201d Auke said, trying to remember how many years had passed. He said that about a year after they signed, they heard others got agreements for three or four times as much. <\/p>\n \u201cWe missed out on a little bit of money but it\u2019s not where our income comes from so\u2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For the most part, especially since there aren\u2019t any active drilling or extraction efforts at the moment \u2013 and their concerns over possible contamination or impacts to the water have been eased \u2013 lithium is mostly out of sight, out of mind for the Plantingas. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they do it right, it should be OK,\u201d Sjouke said. <\/p>\n Across the county, one of T5 Smackover Partner\u2019s sites, Blondie Lady, was also beginning to quiet as crews packed up, leaving just the wellhead behind.<\/p>\n T5 is probably the newest company to enter the Smackover, and they say they\u2019re moving at a pace that can\u2019t be matched.<\/p>\n![\"B.F.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TWSCINWH7JGJFKMSS7YC6JKB5M.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AXZAFXALSBC2JHKZJBYQ63CJLY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UGNQCT33VNHHHAAMVLCXZOP7RM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Cattle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4Y2QONOHTBDEFE7IMQZAIWG2PU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/724SI3S7RJCC5H75BOEQLQUGQU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Attorneys](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/QV6SJDB3DJDYNOZJMMHI5GZ6FI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/33SCOF6KDNFANFQ76IYH3HU2JY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dairy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3ZXDVEWA7VFYFELBCNQUSSRXTI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/M3LO4YW3X5D7JAS5NN7CNJ6EVY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LZ73X3OXMRB7DLS3YUGDR3MJWI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/M7T2WNMPEVGQVBA4O5UVFXQCIY.jpg\")
View Gallery<\/p>\n