Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Arkansas ACCESS Act into law Tuesday as part of her appearance at the 2025 Arkansas Economic Development Foundation luncheon at the Statehouse Convention Center.
ACCESS–short for acceleration, common sense, cost, eligibility, scholarships and standardization–is an attempt by Sanders to refurbish higher education in Arkansas and was passed by both legislative houses Monday. Among the act’s provisions, the amount awarded to incoming freshmen from the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship will be bumped from $1,000 to $2,000. In addition, the act will streamline the application process to Arkansas colleges and create a broader path from school to the workforce.
“For far too long, we’ve told our young people that the only way to be successful is to get a four-year college degree right out of high school,” Sanders said. “ACCESS will help end that myth.”
Sanders also said ACCESS will result in more in-state students being workforce-ready regardless of their post-secondary path.
“What does that mean for business leaders in this room?” Sanders asked. “It means more welders, more electricians, more computer scientists.”
Sanders was joined at the luncheon by Kent Masters, CEO of North Carolina-based chemical manufacturer Albemarle. In a Q&A session with Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald, Masters discussed the impact of massive lithium deposits recently found in south Arkansas.
Albemarle presently operates two plants in Columbia County for the purpose of harvesting bromine, a key ingredient in flame-retardant materials. Masters said the company is in the process of evolving its technology to acquire lithium from the Smackover Formation, a vast concentration of lithium that ranges anywhere from 5.1 to 19-million tons.
Among its uses, lithium is a key ingredient for battery-powered electric cars, and Masters said it can also be used for drones and other military applications.
“We’ve been on that journey for a long time,” Masters said. “We think it’s a great opportunity.”
Exactly how the lithium from the Smackover Formation is acquired has been a bone of contention since the formation was discovered. Among the options is strip-mining, which would heavily damage the land above and around the formation. Another possibility is the use of “evaporation pools” to separate the minerals from the water, though the method requires large tracts of land and could lead to water contamination.
The safest bet is likely pumping water out of the formation, extracting the lithium and returning the water to the aquifer. Masters said Albemarle is uniquely positioned to use that method, as it is nearly identical to how they obtain bromine.
Masters said the Smackover Formation could make a serious impact on the lithium market. Albemarle has lithium plants in Australia and Chile, but other areas with large deposits–specifically the Congo region of Africa, are controlled by outside interests.
“Most of the batteries are made in Korea, China and Japan,” Masters said. “Arkansas can break through that.”
Photo provided by the Arkansas Economic Development Foundation
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