Montgomery County, Texas, is way on the northern border of the Houston/Woodlands metroplex. Its 700,000 or so residents are closer to College Station than they are to Galveston. About 70% of the county voted for President Trump. They are in the very heart of the most important energy region on the planet. [emphasis, links added]
None of that has prevented at least one of its citizens from preferring that important infrastructure be placed elsewhere (in this case, as in all cases, the never well-defined elsewhere).
More specifically, the good people down at Bartholet Home Furnishings in the county seat of Conroe would rather not have a pipeline compressor station right next door to their showroom.
It is difficult to blame them. Compressor stations can be pretty loud. So can Interstate 45, which runs right in front of the same showroom. The city of Conroe is caught in the middle of this particular brawl.
Unfortunately, rather than trying to figure out a way forward that preserves and balances the property rights of both the Bartholets and the pipeline company, the Conroe City Council voted to back the litigation brought by the Bartholets against the Blackfin Compressor Station.
To date, Conroe has spent thousands of dollars of taxpayer cash to fight the compressor station.
That is an especially dodgy expenditure given that the project has been legally approved by the Texas Railroad Commission and, in a bit of theater of the absurd, by the city of Conroe itself earlier this year.
That’s right: The town is essentially supporting litigation against its own decision.
You have to think that the good people of Conroe probably could have thought of different ways to spend that cash. They are also probably starting to wonder about the common sense of their leaders.
Leaving aside all the nonsense, what makes this case especially notable is that it’s unfolding in the most important energy state this side of Riyadh.
Even here, deep in the heart of Texas, the land of the Spindletop oil field, precision drilling, and American energy supremacy, local officials seem to be embracing the illogical and nihilistic NIMBY agenda, opposing a project that is important to Texas’s role as the backbone of America’s energy economy.
As David Blackmon recently noted in Forbes, compressor stations and pipelines are not optional.
They are essential infrastructure that ensures that natural gas produced in regions such as the Permian Basin can reach markets at home and abroad. Pipelines and their associated infrastructure deliver product with a reliability rate of nearly 99.99%.
Without them, Texas would be unable to power schools, homes, and hospitals, let alone the next wave of data centers fueling American innovation that will ensure the United States wins the artificial intelligence competition.
At a time when American energy is crucial to our ability to command the global economic high ground, the story of Conroe is that of a local battle with national consequences.
Setting this kind of precedent in Texas will hurt efforts to increase the supply and effect of American energy. That might be expected in California or Massachusetts, but in Texas, it is an unwelcome surprise and very much out of place.
Top image: medium-sized gas compressor station via Kimray Inc/YouTube screencap
Read rest at Washington Times
