President Carboline Company — Pipeline Safety Interpretation

Page 1Mr. Stanley L. Lopata President Carboline Company 328 Hanley Industrial Court St. Louis, MO 63144 Dear Mr. Lopata: This is in response to your letter of August 28, 1973, to the National Transportation Safety Board which was referred to this Office for a reply. Your letter was concerning to Exxon Corporation pipeline failure near Hearne, Texas, due to corrosion. You offered some suggestions regarding pipeline coatings which you think would prevent an occurrence of a similar situation. The Federal regulations basically require that liquid pipelines installed after April 1, 1970, and gas pipelines installed after July 31, 1971, be coated and cathodically protected to a certain level of protection and annually monitored to assure the maintenance of that level of protection. The choice of a coating or coating combination is left up to the user. A pipeline carrying hazardous materials and petroleum products in liquid form must comply with external coating requirements contained on Section 195.238. A gas carrying pipeline must comply with similar coating requirements contained in Section 192.461. Enclosed for your information is a copy of Federal liquid and gas regulations. I trust this explains our position as related to pipeline coatings. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, /signed/ Joseph C. Caldwell Director Office of Pipeline Safety DB C:\WP51\INTERPRT\192\461\73-10-12 1#