Residents, business owners and experts urge Conroe council to back lawsuit blocking Blackfin compressor station

Residents, business and a retained pipeline expert urged the Conroe City Council on Aug. 13 to support legal action to stop a planned Blackfin Pipeline LLC compressor station that would sit beside Interstate 45 near Bartlett Home Furnishings and back up against residential neighborhoods.

They said the station’s proposed layout — four turbine compressors serving a 48‑inch pipeline — would be unusually close to homes, a business nursery inside the Bartlett store and two new Conroe ISD schools. The council scheduled consideration of a resolution supporting a temporary restraining order and other injunctive relief in Bartlett Properties LLC v. Blackfin Pipeline LLC for its next meeting; no vote occurred Aug. 13.

Public comments focused on safety, noise and air emissions. “Compressor stations are industrial facilities with real risk to public health and safety,” said Howard Leap, president of the Crichton Ridge Homeowners Association, during the public comment period. Multiple speakers said they received little or no information from Blackfin and described difficulty getting answers from the company or state regulators.

Justice…