Consumers Energy to replace more than 50 miles of pipelines through five major counties - WILX

Consumers Energy to replace more than 50 miles of pipelines through five major counties

INGHAM COUNTY, Mich. (WILX) - Consumers Energy plans to replace more than 50 miles of pipelines dating back to the 1940′s.

It’s a multi-million-dollar project that Michigan hopes provides more safe delivery of natural gas.

In Webberville, some of the new natural gas pipelines have already been put into place. These pipelines will be going through five major counties—including Livingston, Ingham, Shiawassee and Clinton counties— all in hopes of making the pipeline system more reliable.

Phase one of the pipeline construction started back in April and will pass through Chelsea to Williamston.

Consumers Energy anticipates that phase one will be done in time for when people need heat.

According to the Michigan Public Service Commission, natural gas is used as a main heating source in more than 75% of Michigan households. The project manager said now is the right time to modernize the pipeline system.

“It’s a good time because this is something that our customers need and it maintains the deliverability for our customers and reliability,” said Juliet Matko, the project manager. “This is a proactive pipeline replacement. We’re going through to replace the pipeline to current codes and standards and specifications.”

In total, this is a two-phase project that is expected to be over two years.

Phase one will pass through two state parks, but Consumers Energy said that will not disrupt the park activities.

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.

Copyright 2023 WILX. All rights reserved.