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 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 petroleum-hydrocarbon contamination at this refinery — TPH and BTEX compounds from underground storage tanks — originates from tanks that were in operation before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. Historical carriers that issued CGL policies to the facility's operators during that pre-1986 window may retain obligations tied to this release. The documented remediation costs here — UST closures, subsurface investigation, and more than two decades of ongoing semi-annual groundwater monitoring — represent expenditures that those historical policies could both recover and 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.