This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1940. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Chevron Hill Tank Farm was built in the early 1940s and operated six above-ground bulk storage tanks holding diesel and jet fuel, with petroleum product piped uphill and stored on site. Cleanup activities included the draining, cleaning, and removal of the tanks and associated piping between 1990 and 1996, followed by excavation and off-site disposal of 3,000 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil in 1997. Groundwater monitoring — including scrubbing and purging of one well and the installation and subsequent abandonment of multiple monitoring wells — continued through late 1998, after which 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.
Bulk fuel storage operations at this property began in the early 1940s, more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion and were written to respond to exactly this kind of gradual subsurface release. The remediation record here — tank removals, 3,000 cubic yards of excavated petroleum-contaminated soil, and a year of groundwater treatment and monitoring — documents the cost trail generated by those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Chevron or its predecessors during that long operational window may still be obligated to recover those documented remediation expenditures.
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.
