The Camden Arkansas Area has strong development opportunities in two industry clusters targeted by the State of Arkansas:

• Aerospace Manufacturing
• Renewable Energy

A leading industry in Southwest Arkansas, timber resources are now on track to increasingly become a sustainable and renewable energy source.

Arkansas Timber Industry

Statewide, there are 18,778,660 acres of forest land representing approximately 56% of the total land base. Of this, 27% is pine, 17% is mixed hardwood and pine, 39% is upland oak-hickory forests, and the remaining 16% are bottomland species including some oak, cypress, cottonwood, and elm.

SAU Grant to Provide Technology to Test Lignite as Alternative Energy Source

Ross, Lincoln, Pryor Announce Million Dollar Grant for SAU

Washington – Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) along with U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor announced today that the Lignite Research Center at Southern Arkansas University (SAU) in Magnolia will receive $1 million from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.  The funds will be used to support construction and purchase of equipment to test lignite - a soft coal - to determine the benefits of mining it for use as an alternative source of energy.

• 9 billion tons of lignite in South Arkansas less than 150 ft beneath the surface. See map below of lignite deposits in Ouachita and Calhoun Counties.
• Potential for conversion to synfuels.
• With CO2 sequestration, South Arkansas oil fields can be rejuvenated & the bromine industry extended by over a hundred years.