This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1965. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as Short Stop Fuel, a gasoline service station with three underground storage tanks — two 10,000-gallon tanks (leaded and unleaded gasoline) and a 12,000-gallon premium leaded gasoline tank — serving retail customers in Ephrata. The USTs were removed in September 1990, along with 260 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Groundwater remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included free product bailing, a pump-and-treat system with vacuum-enhanced wells, an oil/water separator, and an air stripper, while soil vapor extraction with a catalytic oxidizer addressed residual soil contamination. Long-term quarterly groundwater monitoring and an environmental covenant with a surface cover were implemented before the site received a No Further Action determination. 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 presence of leaded and premium leaded gasoline in these underground storage tanks establishes that fueling operations at this property were well underway before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The contamination requiring multi-year remediation — free product recovery, pump-and-treat operations, soil vapor extraction, and long-term monitoring — traces directly to releases from those pre-1986 fuel storage operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the years these tanks were in service may still be obligated to recover the cleanup costs the property owner incurred to reach the site's current No Further Action status.
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.