Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Another view point from an operator

I am a relatively new to the corrosion control industry. I have been exclusively dealing with corrosion control for the last 9 years. Before that I was involved in the construction phase of our industry. I have been following the developments in the debate to change the CP criteria with much interest.
I am responsible for corrosion control on a distibution system that has been around since 1934. Needless to say we have a lot of bare pipe as well as any coating that you can think of. Seeig as the regulatory bodies do not differentiate a pipeline in it's own corridore from a distribution line installed in close proximity to other utilities the -.85cse (instant)off criteria will impact us also.
For now let's lay aside the cost and hassle of complying with -.85cse off. Neither cost nor hassle should dictate our criteria no more that regulatory bodies desiring to make thier job easier. However, the current densities required to operate a system like ours at -.85cse off will cause adverse problems. First the interference we will create with water, sewer, and other infrastructure will corrosion problem not only on our system but also on the other utilities. Next, the high current densities wil cause disbondment on some of our older coatings and will create a whole new set of problems. We have not seen any corrosion on FBE coated pipe that cannot be attributed to other circumstances. If the science proved that we needed this new criteria I would gladly support the efforts. However, these efforts to change the criteria seem to be driven by market forces and not scientific reasons.

Johnny Martin
Willmut Gas Co.

No comments: