# HAR 6-77-124 External corrosion control: buried or submerged pipelines installed after July **Citation:** HAR 6-77-124 **Type / status:** regulation / current **Agency:** Hawaii Public Utilities Commission **Effective:** 1994-09-03 **Published:** 1994-04-15 31, 1971. (a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (f), each buried or submerged pipeline installed after July 31, 1971, must be protected against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating meeting the requirements of section 6- 77-127; (2 ## Document text 31, 1971. (a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (f), each buried or submerged pipeline installed after July 31, 1971, must be protected against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating meeting the requirements of section 6- 77-127; (2) It must have a cathodic protection system designed to protect the pipeline in its entirety in accordance with this subchapter, installed and placed in operation within one year after completion of construction. (b) An operator need not comply with subsection (a), if the operator can demonstrate by tests, investigation, or experience in the area of application, including, as a minimum, soil resistivity measurements and tests for corrosion accelerating bacteria, that a corrosive environment does not exist. However, within six months after an installation made pursuant to the preceding sentence, the operator shall conduct tests, including pipe-to-soil potential measurements with respect to either a continuous reference electrode or an electrode using close spacing, not to exceed twenty feet, and soil resistivity measurements at potential profile peak locations, to adequately evaluate the potential profile along the entire pipeline. If the tests made indicate that a corrosive condition exists, the pipeline must be cathodically protected in accordance with subsection (a)(2). (c) An operator need not comply with subsection (a), if the operator can demonstrate by tests, investigation, or experience that: (1) For a copper pipeline, a corrosive environment does not exist; or (2) For a temporary pipeline with an operating period of service not to exceed five years beyond installation, corrosion during the five-year period of service of the pipeline will not be detrimental to public safety. (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) or (c), if a pipeline is externally coated, it must be cathodically protected in accordance with paragraph (a)(2). (e) Aluminum may not be installed in a buried or submerged pipeline if that aluminum is exposed to an environment with a natural pH in excess of eight, unless tests or experience indicate its suitability in the particular environment involved. (f) This section does not apply to electrically isolated, metal alloy fittings in plastic pipelines, if: (1) For the size fitting to be used, an operator can show by tests, investigation, or experience in the area of application that adequate corrosion control is provided by alloyage; and (2) The fitting is designed to prevent leakage caused by localized corrosion pitting. [Eff ] (Auth: HRS '269-6) (Imp: 49 C.F.R. '192.455, October 1, 1990) ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `hi-puc-har-6-77` - SHA-256: `3e12208ea56e22c7e24a7c5779ffd7afa617c7fecc244dfa50020cae45ca11b1` - Retrieved: 2026-08-12T08:22:24.168Z - Exported: 2026-08-25T22:24:12.620Z - Document slug: `hi-har-har-6-77-124` ### Source metadata ```json { "jurisdiction": "US-HI", "chapter": "HAR Chapter 6-77", "provisionKind": "section", "adoptedOn": "1994-04-15", "filedOn": "1994-08-24", "exactEffectiveDateAvailableInPublication": true, "publicationStatus": "officially-published-superseded-slated-for-repeal", "phmsaProgramParticipant": false, "stateCertificationRepresented": false, "federalInspectionAndEnforcement": [ "interstate gas", "intrastate gas", "interstate hazardous liquid", "intrastate hazardous liquid" ], "fixedFederalBaseline": "1990-10-01", "editorialModernizationApplied": false, "references": [ { "citation": "49 CFR 192.455", "referenceType": "federal_regulation", "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-192.455", "incorporatedEdition": "1990-10-01" }, { "citation": "HRS 269-6", "referenceType": "state_statute", "url": "https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0269/HRS_0269-0006.htm" } ], "caveats": { "exactScope": "Complete substantive text of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission publication of HAR Chapter 6-77: 196 non-reserved numbered sections and Appendices A through D. Four expressly reserved section slots are inventory-only. The PUC's April 2026 page links a 160-page signed scan; an official 178-page text-layer copy from Budget and Finance is used as the higher-quality transcription aid. The publication is an April 15, 1994 adoption, filed August 24 and effective September 3, 1994, based on the October 1, 1990 federal text; it is not a current restatement of federal pipeline standards.", "applicability": "Hawaii is not represented as certified, as an agreement state, or as an interstate agent under the PHMSA federal-state pipeline safety program. PHMSA states that its Office of Pipeline Safety inspects and enforces federal pipeline safety regulations for interstate and intrastate gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines in Hawaii. Chapter 6-77 may remain relevant as published state utility material, but it must not be used to infer current Hawaii inspection or enforcement authority.", "currentness": "The Hawaii PUC still links Chapter 6-77 on its official rules page, updated April 2026. Hawaii's official 2022 periodic rules-review report separately says Chapter 6-77 is to be repealed, was superseded by statute and a federal takeover letter, and cites 2009 Act 25. Because the PUC page does not mark the chapter repealed, this connector preserves the published text with an explicit superseded/slated-for-repeal warning rather than declaring an unproved completed administrative repeal.", "incorporation": "The chapter repeatedly identifies the October 1, 1990 edition of 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 and its appendices as the implemented source. That fixed, obsolete baseline is preserved exactly. Current federal text, later amendments, and current editions of incorporated private standards must not be silently substituted when researching what this publication says.", "excludedScope": "This connector excludes HAR Chapter 6-83 one-call damage prevention, utility rates and service standards, statutes as standalone documents, dockets, orders, tariffs, federal text, current federal amendments, and the full text of incorporated private standards. Those materials require separate completeness, currentness, applicability, and rights analysis.", "rights": "Official Hawaii and PHMSA artifacts are retained with attribution and SHA-256 provenance. Public access does not establish unrestricted rights in site presentation, state marks, forms, or incorporated private standards. The connector records citations to private standards but makes no independent rights claim for those works." }, "region": "HI" } ```