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 a Cascade Natural Gas Corporation district office with on-site diesel fueling infrastructure, including an underground storage tank and pump island used to fuel corporate fleet vehicles or equipment. A release was reported in June 1991 and the diesel UST was removed the following month, with initial soil samples showing TPH-diesel concentrations ranging from 2,800 to 4,900 ppm. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program included excavation of approximately 50 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil, additional overexcavation backfilled with 60 cubic yards of clean material, installation of three groundwater monitoring wells, and six months of groundwater monitoring. The project spanned 21 years from release notification to its 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 diesel contamination at this property originated from an underground storage tank that was in service well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, soil excavation and disposal, overexcavation, well installation, and long-term groundwater monitoring across a two-decade regulatory timeline — represent cleanup costs tied directly to that pre-1986 fueling operation. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Cascade Natural Gas during the tank's operational life may still be obligated to recover those remediation costs.
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.