This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1930. 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.

Petroleum contamination at this site — benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, TPH gasoline, and TPH diesel — traces directly to bulk storage operations that began around 1930, more than five decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. That operational timeline means the contamination originated under the precise policy regime that pre-1986 CGL carriers wrote to cover: ongoing, diffuse releases from storage infrastructure rather than sudden discrete events. Documented remediation expenditures here — the RI/FS, vapor extraction system installation, and years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical insurers whose policies covered this facility during its long operational life may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.