This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1955. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

Why Historical Insurance Policies May Be Accessible

Pre-1986 Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies were occurrence-based and did not contain an effective pollution exclusion in Washington. If contamination occurred while those policies were active, those historical insurance carriers may still have a legal obligation to fund the cleanup costs, even if the business closed or the property changed hands.

The operators running this 54-tank, 12.5-million-gallon bulk facility through the 1970s and 1980s would have carried substantial Commercial General Liability coverage — policies issued during those decades that predate the 1986 shift and remain enforceable against historical carriers today. Contamination here traces to AST operations beginning in 1955 and continuing through the 1992 tank dismantling, a span in which multiple named operators cycled through the site before pollution exclusions became standard. The documented remediation costs — bioventing, soil capping, well decommissioning, and long-term institutional controls — are directly tied to that pre-1986 operational record, which the carriers who underwrote those years may be obligated to fund.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.