Published: November 03, 2009 08:56 am      

NEW: Pipeline firm's grants to help Ind. bird habitats

INDIANAPOLIS — Seven new grants from a company building a huge natural gas pipeline will help protect bird habitats in Indiana.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund and energy industry members say the grants totaling $1.1 million will protect more than 1,300 acres of migratory bird habitat in Indiana.

The grants are paid for by Rockies Express, a business owned by Kinder Morgan, Sempra and Conoco Phillips. Rockies Express is building a $5 billion, 1,700-mile natural gas pipeline from Colorado to Ohio.

The project will disrupt some migratory bird habitat, so the company agreed to pay for the grants to compensate. Officials say the grants will help protect habitats for migratory birds such as the cerulean warbler.