This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
The Whatcom Farmers Co-op facility in Lynden operated a fuel dispensing operation with four underground storage tanks — three gasoline and one diesel — until their removal in 1993. That removal included excavation of approximately 250 cubic yards of contaminated soil, with 100 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil land farmed on-site. Groundwater bioremediation using bacteria and nutrient injections was initiated in 2003, following years of monitoring that identified eight sampling events in which groundwater wells exceeded MTCA thresholds for TPH-G and/or TPH-D; three monitoring wells were decommissioned in 2002 and monitoring continued at least through 2005. 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.
The four USTs at this site were removed in 1993 and, based on a standard tank lifecycle, were almost certainly installed by the late 1960s — well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still lacked effective pollution exclusions. The petroleum releases documented here — gasoline and diesel range hydrocarbons migrating into groundwater — are precisely the slow, subsurface contamination events those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. Documented remediation expenditures spanning UST removal, soil excavation, land farming, in-situ bioremediation, and multi-year groundwater monitoring represent costs that historical carriers may be obligated both to recover and to fund as cleanup continues.
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.
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.
