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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as an active disposal area for ship bilge waste and transformer oil within the US Navy's Naval Supply Center at Manchester, Washington, with disposal operations running from 1955 through the mid-1970s, when an oily waste treatment plant was constructed to replace the practice. Jet fuel tank cleaning operations also took place on-site during the mid- to late-1960s. A Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study evaluated multiple cleanup alternatives — soil excavation, on-site stabilization and incineration, impervious containment covers, water collection and treatment systems, and institutional controls — with estimated present-worth costs reaching up to $1.3 million. The site has since reached No Further Action status. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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.
PCB and petroleum contamination at this facility built up through roughly twenty continuous years of disposal — 1955 through the mid-1970s — each year generating a new occurrence under the CGL policies that Navy contractors and Supply Center operators carried throughout that period. Because those policies predate the 1986 pollution-exclusion era by a decade or more, every annual policy issued during that long disposal window is a potential source of coverage. The documented remediation cost trail — multi-alternative feasibility study, excavation and treatment options, long-term monitoring — represents liabilities that trace directly to that two-decade operational history and may still be recoverable from the carriers who insured it.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
What We Look For
- Historical insurance policies (pre-1986)
- Policy numbers, carrier names, and coverage periods
- Connection between contamination timing and policy period
- Evidence linking cleanup obligation to insured activity
What We Deliver
- Historical Coverage Chart
- Trigger Analysis & Property/Policy Nexus
- Coverage strategy with recommendations
- Insurance funding for your remediation
- Claims Management & Forensic Accounting
The Restorical Proven Process
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
