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.

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 leaded gasoline residues in tanks T4 and T5 anchor the contamination at this site to an operational era that predates the 1986 industry shift away from occurrence-based CGL policies. Two air sparging systems have run continuously since 1998 and 2001, annual monitoring and bioremediation remain active, and the remediation arc now spans nearly three decades with no end date set — a timeline directly traceable to releases from those pre-1986 tank operations. Carriers who issued occurrence-based CGL policies to the Astro operators during the leaded-gasoline era may be obligated to fund both the costs already incurred and the remediation that continues at this Olympia property.

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.