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Released September 18, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the oil-and-gas-friendly state of Texas, a judge has halted construction of a natural gas pipeline compressor station for at least several months.
On Monday, 457 District Court Presiding Judge Vincenzo J. Santini issued a temporary injunction blocking the construction of a compressor station located near Conroe, saying the noise and pollution created by the station would violate a local restrictive covenant. He set a court trial date for May 26, 2026.
The station would be part of WhiteWater Midstream's (Austin, Texas) Blackfin Pipeline--193 miles of intrastate pipeline designed to transport up to 3.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas from Colorado County (west of Katy, outside of Houston), on the edge of the Eagle Ford Shale, to Jasper County in East Texas, north of Beaumont and Port Arthur near the Louisiana border. The project entails a series of compressor stations. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipelines Project and Plants databases can click here for the related project reports and click here for the plant profiles.
The pipeline is intended to intersect with and be an extension of WhiteWater's Matterhorn Express Pipeline.
The legal challenge against the Conroe compressor station started after the Bartholet family, owners of a local home furnishings store, realized the station was planned for construction 150 feet from their business and expressed safety concerns.
The pipeline already had received approval at the city, county and state levels, but Conroe City Council members voiced surprise in August, saying they had not been informed of the compressor station despite the council's approval of an easement for the pipeline in 2024. The council passed a resolution showing support for the lawsuit's plaintiffs; later, Conroe leaders agreed to hire outside legal counsel and an engineer to try to stop the construction of the station, according to news reports.
In his temporary injunction order, Santini said the "case is not about whether a natural gas pipeline and compressor station are inherently dangerous or whether they will cause catastrophic harm," nor was it "about whether a natural gas pipeline is a negligent nuisance by reason of any failure on behalf of the defendants to act reasonably and prudently in its design or obtain proper authorizations from the Texas Center for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) or Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC)."
"Quite simply, this case is about the ability to enforce restrictive covenants on an encumbered property," according to the injunction order. In 2011, the Bartholet family purchased the land where their furniture store currently sits, and "negotiated a restrictive covenant with Defendants' predecessor in ownership that runs with the land."
An expert witness for the Bartholet family testified that the compressor station, when operating, would emit noise of about 100 decibels, or the same level as a siren, and would be even noisier when a planned or unplanned blowdown occurs, according to the injunction. Another witness said the compressor could use flaring during its normal operations. Both the flaring and the noise would breach the restrictive covenant, according to the injunction.
"The evidence establishes that Defendants knew Defendants' Property was encumbered by restrictive covenants. Defendants made a calculated decision to proceed with building on the current site rather than the more rural forested wetlands" that could have been chosen, the injunction continued.
In a prepared statement to local television station KPRC, a spokesperson for the Blackfin project said that safety "is at the core of everything we do, and this project has been approved by all appropriate regulatory agencies including city and county officials -- pipelines like this are the safest way to transport the energy used by Texans every day."
"We are disappointed with today's decision, but we look forward to appealing it vigorously and exercising all our legal rights to achieve a just resolution," he continued. "In a county that has historically supported property rights and Texas's energy industry, this ruling clearly caters to one individual and not the state or county at large. We expect to find a less conflicted venue in our appeal."
The issue has prompted some industry observers to question if more of this type of project opposition in the Lone Star State could chill the local development of large data centers that consume huge amounts of natural-gas-derived electricity.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts natural gas consumption in the U.S. will increase 1% to set a record of 91.4 billion cubic feet per day in 2025.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion
On Monday, 457 District Court Presiding Judge Vincenzo J. Santini issued a temporary injunction blocking the construction of a compressor station located near Conroe, saying the noise and pollution created by the station would violate a local restrictive covenant. He set a court trial date for May 26, 2026.
The station would be part of WhiteWater Midstream's (Austin, Texas) Blackfin Pipeline--193 miles of intrastate pipeline designed to transport up to 3.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas from Colorado County (west of Katy, outside of Houston), on the edge of the Eagle Ford Shale, to Jasper County in East Texas, north of Beaumont and Port Arthur near the Louisiana border. The project entails a series of compressor stations. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipelines Project and Plants databases can click here for the related project reports and click here for the plant profiles.
The pipeline is intended to intersect with and be an extension of WhiteWater's Matterhorn Express Pipeline.
The legal challenge against the Conroe compressor station started after the Bartholet family, owners of a local home furnishings store, realized the station was planned for construction 150 feet from their business and expressed safety concerns.
The pipeline already had received approval at the city, county and state levels, but Conroe City Council members voiced surprise in August, saying they had not been informed of the compressor station despite the council's approval of an easement for the pipeline in 2024. The council passed a resolution showing support for the lawsuit's plaintiffs; later, Conroe leaders agreed to hire outside legal counsel and an engineer to try to stop the construction of the station, according to news reports.
In his temporary injunction order, Santini said the "case is not about whether a natural gas pipeline and compressor station are inherently dangerous or whether they will cause catastrophic harm," nor was it "about whether a natural gas pipeline is a negligent nuisance by reason of any failure on behalf of the defendants to act reasonably and prudently in its design or obtain proper authorizations from the Texas Center for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) or Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC)."
"Quite simply, this case is about the ability to enforce restrictive covenants on an encumbered property," according to the injunction order. In 2011, the Bartholet family purchased the land where their furniture store currently sits, and "negotiated a restrictive covenant with Defendants' predecessor in ownership that runs with the land."
An expert witness for the Bartholet family testified that the compressor station, when operating, would emit noise of about 100 decibels, or the same level as a siren, and would be even noisier when a planned or unplanned blowdown occurs, according to the injunction. Another witness said the compressor could use flaring during its normal operations. Both the flaring and the noise would breach the restrictive covenant, according to the injunction.
"The evidence establishes that Defendants knew Defendants' Property was encumbered by restrictive covenants. Defendants made a calculated decision to proceed with building on the current site rather than the more rural forested wetlands" that could have been chosen, the injunction continued.
In a prepared statement to local television station KPRC, a spokesperson for the Blackfin project said that safety "is at the core of everything we do, and this project has been approved by all appropriate regulatory agencies including city and county officials -- pipelines like this are the safest way to transport the energy used by Texans every day."
"We are disappointed with today's decision, but we look forward to appealing it vigorously and exercising all our legal rights to achieve a just resolution," he continued. "In a county that has historically supported property rights and Texas's energy industry, this ruling clearly caters to one individual and not the state or county at large. We expect to find a less conflicted venue in our appeal."
The issue has prompted some industry observers to question if more of this type of project opposition in the Lone Star State could chill the local development of large data centers that consume huge amounts of natural-gas-derived electricity.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts natural gas consumption in the U.S. will increase 1% to set a record of 91.4 billion cubic feet per day in 2025.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion
