Dear Orion Township Residents:

We at Consumers Energy want to offer our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Orion Township and surrounding fire departments as well as the Oakland County Sheriff for their response during the Nov. 20 gas rupture incident. Their support allowed our employees to do our jobs more safely and efficiently.

Public safety is our top priority. Nothing is more important than protecting our customers, employees and the communities we serve. We have employees that live and work in this area and surrounding communities, and we recognize how important it is to provide safe, reliable natural gas service to our customers.

We have conducted a thorough investigation of this incident, including a metallurgical failure analysis and other evaluations of the pipeline as well as a geotechnical investigation of the site near the failure.

The investigation concluded that about 21 feet of fill material was added on top of the pipeline in the affected area over the course of several years. The weight of this fill stressed the pipeline and caused it to sag due to the compressibility of the supporting organic soil layer (i.e. a swampy area where soil can shift more easily). This eventually caused the pipeline to break.

This type of pipeline break is rare. In fact, Consumers Energy has never experienced an incident with this cause and we are acting to help ensure it does not happen again. We are:

• Enhancing inspection patrols of our gas transmission lines and enhancing focus on fill placed over our pipelines.

• Enhancing our construction standards to evaluate soil compressibility before pipeline construction/replacement projects begin.

We have also developed a comprehension remediation plan for this incident that meets or exceeds state and federal requirements to ensure the safety of this pipeline: The plan includes:

• Replacing approximately 1,200 feet of pipeline with new, 22-inch steel pipe.

• Installing the new section of pipeline under peat and organic soils present on the site to ensure there is good soil support below the pipe. This will address the risk of abnormal external loading on the pipeline.

We plan to begin construction by the end of January 2018, with completion expected before summer. A Consumers Energy project manager will work on site during construction to ensure the pipeline is constructed in accordance with our gas transmission standards, designed to meet or exceed industry standards.

Consumers Energy values the opportunity to provide reliable, safe and affordable natural gas and electric service to our customers, as we have for more than 130 years.

Thank you for your patience as we completed the investigation and as we work to put this pipeline back into operation so it can continue delivering natural gas to customers in Oakland and surrounding counties.

Charles Crews

Vice President of Gas Operations

Consumers Energy