LEWISVILLE — This is a year of firsts for Lafayette County Judge Valarie Clark. She is in her first year as county judge, and she is also the first woman to serve in that position in Lafayette County.
And this year is bringing an important first for Lafayette County: The possibility of an estimated $500 million bromine/lithium production plant on the Columbia/Lafayette line. Tetra Technologies, based in The Woodlands, Texas, is awaiting approval from the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission for the creation of a proposed brine production unit.
A production unit is a legal definition of area from which a company intends to produce brine from drilling vertical or horizontal wells. Property owners who own mineral rights within the unit will receive payments specified in the mineral leases they have signed.
Tetra wants to extract bromine for other chemicals it makes. The fact that lithium can also be extracted is something Tetra is investigating.
“The main thing I keep hearing is just to be prepared. There is going to be some type of lithium industry come this way,” Clark said in an interview on August 18. “I have been told we are going to get something here. It’s going to be on the line. I’m not sure what side of the line.”
Clark said she was not sure if the plant would be located in Columbia or Lafayette County. “But either way it will help Lafayette County immensely,” the judge said, citing increased sales as a benefit. “People are going to need to eat, they’re going to need to go to the store, things like that.”
“It would be a huge growth for us, regardless of which side of the line they put it on.”
Lafayette County is one of the smaller counties in Arkansas by population, with approximately 6,000 people. By contrast, Columbia County has about 23,000 people.
“We are very excited. I would hope they would consider Lafayette County,” she said.
Before taking office as county judge, Clark served eight years as circuit clerk. She recalled that during that time, a lot of mineral leases were recorded by Saltwerx.
Saltwerx was working on behalf of a company called Galvanic Energy, which was reported to have sold 110,000 acres in brine leases in Lafayette and Columbia counties to ExxonMobil for $100 million.
ExxonMobil hasn’t announced any construction plans, but trade publications suggest that the energy giant may be working with Tetra Technologies.
Standard Lithium plans to start construction of a $1.3 billion lithium production facility by 2025. The company has described a location as being 15 miles west of Magnolia, but hasn’t made a precise location clear.
Albemarle Corporation also plans lithium pilot plants at its current bromine production facilities in Columbia County.
Referring to an email communication from an official with Standard Lithium of Vancouver, British Columbia, Clark said a pre-feasibility study has established “the highest-grade lithium brine resource reported to date anywhere in North America.”
Lithium is one of the key ingredients in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. The proposed location of this facility is reported to be in an area of Columbia County that lies in the Lafayette County School District.
Opal Anderson has been superintendent of the Lafayette County School District for one year. Like Clark, she has heard the facility would be on the Columbia/Lafayette County line. “I just keep hearing things,” she said in a telephone interview on August 21. “That is all I know, what I see on the news, what I read in different papers.”
Lafayette County School District has campuses in Stamps and Lewisville. The district includes around 510 students, Anderson said.
Anderson is hopeful the project would “bring in more revenue for the school, help to bring in a variety of resources, help with funding.”
With an economic boom comes challenges, however. Clark said the Lafayette County Quorum Court met recently and among the concerns voiced were housing and water.
She said there are currently two rural water systems in Lafayette County — Walkers Creek and Walnut Hill. The majority of Lafayette County households have individual water wells, Clark noted.
“I have been reaching out to people on the state level, trying to find ways to start a rural water project in Lafayette County, because I understand the importance of rural water,” she said. Clark said she has visited with Congressman Bruce Westerman’s liaison “and told him that was one of our main concerns — funding for rural water — to see if there’s any funding for rural water.”
Another concern is county roads. “If this thing kicks off, transportation, just transporting the product out of here” could become an issue, Clark said.
Still another concern is Internet access. “If you have businesses come in they’re going to have to have the Internet,” she said.
“I am on the Broadband committee for our county,” she said. “We’re trying to push this broadband thing for Lafayette County, so that all of Lafayette County will have some type of fiber for Internet, no matter where they’re at. We’re working with ARConnect, the state’s broadband office, with that.”
Another important aspect of an economic boom is the need for skilled workers and tradespeople. Clark said the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope has a new chancellor and “with me being a new county judge we’re working to partner together so when new businesses or new industries come in, we will be able to present them with a letter that shows them we’re a partner with UACCH. If there’s certain kinds of trades that each company is going to look for, they will help design courses specifically for that trade so that our citizens here have an opportunity to get the training and the knowledge they need.”
As the county’s population increases, so does the amount of trash — solid waste — but Clark believes Lafayette County can handle that. “Trash is a big struggle,” she said. “Trash has definitely been an obstacle within itself.”
Lafayette County personnel pick up county residents’ trash. “We do not have a landfill in Lafayette County,” she said. “We take ours to the transfer station and from there haul it to the Upper Southwest (landfill) in Nashville.”
Clark said the county sends out one truck daily. “We have a driver and a guy that actually throws the trash into the truck.” She said the county has an extra trash truck on standby. “If population and growth come in, we have the equipment and truck to manage the trash,” she said.
Clark said she does not feel the public fully comprehends what all is involved in trash collection. “I do not feel that the men and women get the respect they deserve,” she said. “It’s a hot, nasty job. Ordinary citizens do not realize what all goes into picking up trash.”
In an average week, Lafayette County picks up approximately 55 tons of household trash for the county and cities. Each city collects their own trash, which is taken to the transfer station for transportation to Nashville.
As a new county judge, Clark has found some of her biggest challenges to be roads and culverts. “That will always be a huge learning curve for any judge that did not come from the road department or a highway department or anything like that.”
“It’s a very exciting time for us in Lafayette County,” Clark said. “I am excited for what the future holds for our county.”
Clark said she has been reading up on the whole lithium issue to educate herself, adding several articles she had read indicate that construction will begin in 2024. “I am hoping by the end of the year maybe we will know something more definite,” she said.
“Lafayette County, Columbia County, we may be in the history books in years to come. These were the two counties in Arkansas that brought forth the technology for lithium batteries,” she said. “You never know where this may take us.”
