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Bloomberg
The three largest automakers in US suspended some operations on the coldest day of the year after a fire at a Southeast Michigan natural gas facility drastically reduced their supply of the heating fuel. Energy prices soared as freezing weather spread into the Northeast and closed a nuclear reactor in New Jersey.
CMS Energy Corp.’s Consumers Energy utility sends gas to about 4.1 million people in 45 counties in the region, including much of the auto manufacturing sector, according to its website. The fire occurred in a facility that accounts for about 64 percent of the utility’s gas supply, and company officials were urging all customers — residential, industrial and commercial — to cut back on their use of the fuel.
General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV idled some of their operations while Ford Motor Co. dialed back gas consumption at four factories. The fire hit a compressor station, and the utility expects to be able to return to normal operations afternoon and the conservation request will continue, Katie Carey, a utility spokeswoman, said by telephone.
Temperatures fell to minus-12 Fahrenheit (minus 24 Celsius) in Detroit at 7:39 a.m., with wind-chill values as low as minus-33, according to National Weather Service. Cotton, Minnesota, was the coldest spot in the country, at minus-53, according to the National Weather Service, and the weather has been blamed for at least eight deaths so far.