Most mornings, Dan Okon, principal engineer, on DTE’s Environmental team, starts his workday like many of us do: checking the weather, reviewing the plan for the day and getting ready to join his team.
But on sampling days, that meeting place looks a little different. Okon and members of DTE’s environmental team, head out on the water for fieldwork along the Detroit River and Lake Erie.
From the deck of the vessel, captained by Don Januszek, Okon, often accompanied by environmental team members like Sofia Kopec, associate engineer, collects fish and sediment samples to support Fermi’s Radiation Protection group and its Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program. The work happens in the spring and fall and helps our teams keep a close eye on the health of local waterways.
Before the team heads out, there is important prep work behind the scenes, too. Our team obtains a Scientific Collector’s Permit from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, to complete the sampling. At the end of the year, the team sends fish collection data back to the DNR for its records and to renew the permit for the next year.
Sampling is only one part of the job. The environmental team also supports Fermi’s maintenance team by deploying and retrieving Homeland Security buoys in Lake Erie. On the day the crew was out, they were working on a spring deployment near shore in shallow water and had to find the chain on the lake bottom before attaching the buoy. Very similar to finding a needle in a haystack, just in the waters of Lake Erie!
In a typical season, the buoys are deployed in early spring and retrieved in the fall. The team works with Fermi maintenance throughout the year to order new parts, repair chains and anchor assemblies so everything is ready when it is needed.
Sometimes, their work happens below the surface. Okon is certified to dive for our company when buoy repairs are needed while the buoys are in the water. Keeping some slack in the chain matters. If it gets too tight during high winds or waves, it can break away from the bottom of the buoy. The team dives when lake conditions are safest, usually on warm, calm days.
Of course, a day on the water does not always go exactly as planned. Weather, water levels and timing can all affect when the crew can safely head out, so flexibility is a big part of the job.
“No two days on the water are the same,” said Okon. “Whether we’re sampling, deploying equipment or supporting our partners, it’s rewarding to see firsthand how this work helps protect our local waterways.”
For Okon, time on the boat is also a reminder of why the work matters. Whether the team is collecting samples, checking equipment, deploying buoys or bringing everything back to shore, their work helps protect the natural resources we all share and gives employees a closer look at environmental stewardship in action.
