Document 2kKJzoQDQQ3G2a2oLrvRoLOr

November 1$, 1940 Sr. M. N. Newquist Texas Company 135 B. 42nd Street New York, New York Dear Doctor Newquist: Dr. Kehoe is out of the laboratory and v/ill not return soon, and I, am accordingly replying to your letter of November 1* We are happy to know that the tank cleaning study was of interest to you and we welcome any comments or inquiries that you may wish to offer on the subject matter or conclusions. In so far as the hazard from organio lead in tank cars is concerned, all of our experience indicates that it does not exist. This v/as one of the reasons that our information on them was not included in the report. We have over a period of years obtained a number of samples of sludge from tank cars and have subjected them to the same analytical procedure as wa3 applied in the case of sludge from tanks. In no instance wa3 the concentration or organic lead of such order of magnitude as to suggest a hazard from that source. We can only conjecture upon the reasons for this, possibly agitation, frequent change of product and the short stay of any batch of gasoline in a tank car may be factors to explain these low levels. The same results were obtained from recent tank wagon samples. Our opinion, therefore, is essen tially unchanged in so far as the hazard from tank cars is concerned. We do not believe that the lead hazard need be considered except in those very rare instances where tank cars may have been used for blending or where they are permitted to function for a period of years as tanks, that is to say, not to be used for the haulage of gasoline, but serve unmoved as distributing or trackside tanks. In these cases they would of course be functionally a tank rather than a tank car. In connection with blending into tank cars we did 0022352 Dr. IS. N. Newquiat - (g) - November l, 1940 have one or two samples from tank cars that had been blended into and in the sludge of which significant amounts of lead were found. Blending into tank cars wa3, we believe, an extremely rare practice, even some years ago before our methods of control were developed to their present state and to the best of cur knowledge, it is now non-existent, so that the possibility of hazard from this souroe need no longer be considered. You may be interested in knowing that 3ome recent samples that we obtained from filling station tanks contained amounts of organic lead in the sludge comparable to those found in larger tanks. We do not believe that these filling station tanks con stitute a hazard from the point of view of cleaning as they are not entered, nor would the cleaning operation occupy a sufficient length of time in moat instances to bring about serious conditions of exposure for the men concerned, but the results do beer out one conclusion in the report, namely, that size of tank is no influence upon the amounts of lead (in terms of percentage) that may be deposited in them, and they further make it imperative that old filling station tanks that are intended to be junked, not be used for the storage of foodstuffs or water. With best regards, I am Very truly yours, :: vr cc - Ivlr. Harry Kaley Willard'Machle, U, D. K 0022353