Texas Weighs How to Regulate Its Own Lithium Rush

Texas Tribune reporter Jess Huff examines East Texas’ lithium extraction opportunity and the conversation over how the state will regulate it, reporting from the Smackover Formation communities around Texarkana where Energy Exploration Technologies Inc. (EnergyX), ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron are positioning for growth.

• According to the Tribune, Texas lawmakers have yet to settle basic questions — mineral rights, brine ownership, property tax impacts and reinjection rules — that Arkansas resolved years ago by folding lithium into its existing brine-production framework.

Texas regulates lithium brine through the Railroad Commission, using oil-and-gas rules as a template. But Huff reports the state “does not clearly establish who owns” mineral rights when brine is extracted specifically for lithium rather than as an oil-and-gas byproduct. It’s a gap that EnergyX Vice President Chris Alex says regulators haven’t resolved. 

• Arkansas’ head start gives it regulatory clarity Texas still lacks, but University of Texas geologist Brent Elliott argues Texas could ultimately build infrastructure without Arkansas’ legacy constraints.

• “We have the advantage of developing infrastructure that would be better suited for future development without having the previous stuff,” he said.

On the Agenda

Lithium regulation was expected to be a priority for the Texas Legislature’s 2027 session until data center growth and the water and energy demands that come with it pushed ahead of it on lawmakers’ agendas. Researchers plan to brief legislators by year’s end.

More: Read Huff’s full report at the Texas Tribune. 

Previously: EnergyX commissions a 250-ton-per-year demonstration facility in Texarkana, Texas, and coverage of the State of Lithium summit in Texarkana.