This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property operated as a bulk petroleum storage and distribution facility — formerly the Wilcox and Flegel Property and later Chevron Facility No. 1001875 — with infrastructure that included underground and above-ground storage tanks, a tank truck loading rack, a tank car loading header, and associated pipelines. Groundwater beneath the site contains elevated concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons across multiple fractions (TPH-GRO, TPH-DRO, TPH-HRO), BTEX compounds, and MTBE. Cleanup activities have included multi-year groundwater monitoring from 1988 through 2018, recovery-well extraction with an oil/water separator for treatment of separate-phase hydrocarbons, soil excavation associated with a former underground storage tank, and investigation of soil vapor extraction via an air sparge test well. Cleanup work is ongoing. 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 multi-fraction petroleum contamination at this bulk distribution and loading facility reflects the scale and duration of storage operations that predated the 1986 transition away from occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies. Groundwater monitoring records beginning in 1988 and the site's own historical contamination data place the originating operations squarely within the window when CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Documented remediation expenditures — recovery-well infrastructure, groundwater treatment, decades of monitoring, and ongoing vapor-extraction investigation — represent past costs to recover and continuing costs that historical carriers may still be obligated to fund.
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.
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.
