Consumers Energy is expected to replace roughly 20 miles of natural gas pipes running through the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge this summer.
Officials with Consumers Energy say the project will, in totality, replace 78 miles of pipe, and an additional 16 miles of new pipe, between Saginaw, Flint, and Oakland County.
Deborah Dodd is a spokesperson for Consumers. She said the company is working to make sure the pipe replacement in the wildlife park is as environmentally friendly as possible.
“We’ll be installing that in two areas underneath a river and a marsh using horizontal directional drilling. That’s a kind of drilling to install pipeline that doesn’t require you to open trench and disturb the top portion of the land.”
Dodd said the company has even employed a herpetologist.
“We do have an environmental inspector on this project every day that’s out on the project but we also work with a herpetologist, which is someone that specializes in reptiles.”
Dodd said the herpetologist has already rescued a nest of snapping turtles.
The company will be uprooting some trees, but they plan on re-planting trees once they are done.
She said the 610 million dollar project is expected to be complete by 2021.
Dodd said some portions of the pipe were first placed in the 1940s and it’s time for a replacement.