Liberty County conditionally approves Blackfin Pipeline road‑use agreement with $600,000 in prepaid damages

Liberty County commissioners voted to conditionally approve a road‑use agreement with Blackfin Pipeline LLC on a motion read into the record, allowing the company continued use of county roads in Precincts 2 and 3 in exchange for $600,000 in prepaid damages in lieu of a traditional road bond.

County staff and counsel had spent substantial time with Blackfin representatives during the public portion of the meeting ironing out differences between the procurement portal materials and the road‑use agreement the company had provided. County Attorney Catherine (identified in the meeting record as county counsel) warned that "if there are any material changes to the agreement, we'd have to bring it back," and said conditional approval with a limitation to only nonmaterial changes was a reasonable path forward to avoid delaying related permit work.

Blackfin representatives told the court they preferred cash prepaid damages to bonds and were prepared to meet the county's monitoring expectations, including pre‑ and post‑use road video inspections and coordination with county road crews. A company speaker summarized that the firm was "really interested" in moving forward and asked whether conditional approval would allow other permits to proceed; county staff replied permits are separate from the road‑use agreement and would not be held up by this action.

Commissioners discussed alternatives — including a $3.5 million construction bond referenced by permit staff — and agreed the county's experience collecting on bonds made prepaid funds preferable. County staff said the $600,000 figure corresponds to $300,000 per precinct but cautioned the amount could change if damages proved greater than anticipated; the commissioners limited the approval to nonmaterial edits to the draft before final execution.

The court's motion, read and summarized by staff, proposed "conditional approval of the road use agreement between Liberty County and Blackfin Pipeline for continued use of county roads in Precincts 2 and 3 in exchange for prepaid damages in the amount of $600,000 in lieu of a road bond pending the approval by Blackfin with only nonmaterial changes." A commissioner moved and another seconded; the court voted in favor and the motion carried.

Next steps: county staff said they would circulate the draft agreement to Blackfin for final signature, and any material changes would return to the commissioners for approval. The county also said it would oversee before‑and‑after road inspections and coordinate dispute‑resolution steps described in the agreement.