This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as the Kittitas Pole Yard for the Ellensburg Telephone Company, used for storing creosote-treated telephone poles. Historic dripping of creosote from the stored poles contaminated near-surface soil with petroleum and semivolatile compounds. Remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 120 cubic yards (148 tons) of impacted soil and decommissioning of underground storage tanks. A subsequent groundwater investigation — three monitoring wells installed and sampled — confirmed no groundwater contamination, and 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 creosote contamination at this pole yard resulted from long-term industrial storage practices that predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures — soil excavation, off-site disposal, UST decommissioning, and a multi-well groundwater investigation — are the type of cleanup costs that historical CGL carriers may be obligated to reimburse. Policies issued to the telephone company during the decades of uncontained creosote dripping could still respond to those costs today.
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.