The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would update coating performance requirements for onshore hazardous liquid pipelines under 49 CFR Part 195. The proposed changes reflect advances in coating technology and a decade of performance data collected under the current regime.
What’s Changing
The proposed rule would introduce minimum peel strength requirements, mandatory holiday testing procedures, and new specifications for field joint coating systems applied in trench conditions. It also proposes a performance-based pathway that allows operators to qualify novel coating materials — including spray polyurea and polyaspartic systems — through third-party testing rather than prescriptive specification compliance.
Industry Response
The oil pipeline coatings industry has broadly welcomed the performance-based pathway, noting that current prescriptive standards have struggled to keep pace with rapidly evolving materials chemistry. Several member organizations submitted comments highlighting their experiences with polyurea systems that meet or exceed the proposed performance benchmarks by wide margins.
Our organization submitted detailed technical comments to the PHMSA docket and will be presenting findings at the Annual Pipeline Integrity Summit in September. Members can access our full comment submission in the resources section.
Timeline and Next Steps
The comment period closes 90 days from the NPRM publication date. PHMSA has indicated a final rule could be published within 18–24 months. Operators are advised to begin reviewing their coating specifications and qualification programs now to ensure readiness for compliance.