Blackfin’s Blowdown Blows Back
The case of this compressor station illustrates that it’s not only federal lawsuits that can throw a wrench in project plans.
Blackfin’s Pickle in Conroe
Originally published for customers September 26, 2025.
What’s the issue?
The 457th Judicial District Court of Montgomery County in Texas issued a temporary injunction halting Blackfin’s Conroe Compressor station.
Why does it matter?
The injunction could delay startup, or force project modification, with ripple effects for CP Express and CP2 LNG.
What’s our view?
The ruling emphasized property rights over project scale, and the judge’s sharp tone makes appeal prospects dim. Blackfin’s three main options are: appeal now, wait and potentially appeal the trial decision on the merits, or relocate the compressor station.
The 457th Judicial District Court of Montgomery County in Texas issued a temporary injunction halting Blackfin’s Conroe Compressor station. The injunction could delay startup, or force project modification, with ripple effects for CP Express and CP2 LNG. The ruling emphasized property rights over project scale, and the judge’s sharp tone makes appeal prospects dim. Blackfin’s three main options are: appeal now, wait and potentially appeal the trial decision on the merits, or relocate the compressor station.
A Ruling With Teeth
Judge Vincenzo Santini’s September 15 order granted Bartholet Properties (a family-owned furniture store that has operated in Conroe for sixty years) a temporary injunction halting all construction at Blackfin’s Conroe Compressor Station. The Bartholets had negotiated restrictive covenants in 2011 to protect their business “for future generations.” We discussed the details of the restrictive covenant in Blackfin’s Blowdown Blows Back.
The court stressed that this case was not about natural gas pipeline infrastructure generally, its value to society or risk profile, or whether Blackfin’s design or due diligence in obtaining proper authorization were somehow negligent. Instead, the court underscored that this case was only about property rights — “the ability to enforce restrictive covenants.” It found that Blackfin’s contemplated compressor station would violate the restrictive covenant by flaring and producing “constant noise as loud as a siren” that a reasonable person trying to operate a business next door would find “offensive, seriously annoying, or intolerable.”
The judge also characterized the issue as “a risk of [Blackfin’s] own making,” stating that Blackfin had “made a calculated decision” to choose an encumbered site despite alternatives, while the Bartholets had taken steps to safeguard their land. The project, the judge emphasized, “is still in its infancy” and Blackfin’s siting decision is “the main reason they are in this pickle,” so their “need to violate a restrictive covenant is not a need at all but rather a choice of convenience.”
Three Paths Forward
Strategically, Blackfin has three main choices now. It can appeal the temporary injunction, wait for trial and potentially appeal any final decision on the merits, or relocate the compressor station.
1. Appeal Now (Accelerated, Interlocutory Appeal)
Temporary injunctions are a type of “interlocutory” order, which means they happen in the middle of a case but don’t actually end the lawsuit. But because they change the status quo, Texas law allows immediate appeal of temporary injunctions on a faster track. Interlocutory appeals from Montgomery County go to the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont and usually stop there. We apply the accelerated process to Blackfin’s timeline below:
Review for these types of challenges is limited: the appellate court can only ask whether the trial judge abused their discretion in issuing a temporary injunction. For Blackfin, this could be a steep hill because the ruling cited multiple covenant breaches (noise, fire, emissions), supported by detailed testimony. Even if Blackfin won, the result would only be a lift of the temporary injunction, which would allow them to keep building, but the trial on the merits in May would still happen.
2. Wait for Trial, Potentially Appeal the Merits
Blackfin can press its case at trial in May 2026 and, if it loses, appeal through the standard route: 9th Court of Appeals, then potentially the Texas Supreme Court. The temporary injunction order already previewed the likely outcome at trial: even if noise were eliminated, combustion engines still “will produce fire” and emissions that breach the covenant. But if Blackfin has confidence in an alternative reading of the law, it could use the trial to set up a strong administrative record to support an appeal.
3. Relocate the Compressor Station
The opinion also stated that Blackfin considered “various potential build sites” including a rural site west of Conroe, along forested wetlands that would require “a new road, running utilities, and would be subject to more safety inspections.” But it avoids covenant litigation entirely, and the court’s observation that the project is “still in its infancy” suggests relocation may be a manageable fix rather than a fatal setback.
Bottom Line
To sum it up, Blackfin can fight now, fight later, or move. The court has already framed the owners of the furniture store as responsible business owners looking to preserve something they had built for sixty years for future generations, and Blackfin as having chosen convenience over caution. From that perspective, an accelerated appeal looks unlikely and a merits trial probably would not change the ultimate decision. But if Blackfin thinks the judge read the law wrong, it could use the trial to set up an appeal. It might come down to a comparative cost analysis between drawn out litigation and alternative siting.
