Lithium could be key to turning Arkansas oil patch into a battery boomtown
America's future will rely on batteries. The crucial chemical in those batteries is plentiful under Arkansas—the trick is pumping it out.
Author: Rolly Hoyt
Updated: 10:23 PM CDT July 13, 2021
EL DORADO, Ark. — Oil powered the last century, with some of it pulled from the ground in Arkansas, but in today's cleaner and greener times, batteries are going to power our lives.
There is a global push to find the chemicals that go into those batteries, mainly lithium. The mineral for the most part is mined from distant parts of the world and refined into devices in China.