This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1977. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
From 1977 to 1981, Cascade Timber Company operated this property along Marine View Drive as a log sort yard, placing slag from the ASARCO ore smelting facility in Tacoma as base rock and ballast to stabilize heavy equipment on soft ground. That slag introduced arsenic, copper, lead, and zinc into the soil and groundwater. Remediation has included excavation and consolidation of contaminated soil and debris into an on-site containment cell with a double barrier cap, supplemented by ongoing groundwater monitoring — purging and sampling of four wells — and containment system maintenance conducted under a quarterly cost-capped arrangement with Ecology since at least 2011. The site has reached No Further Action status, though monitoring and maintenance activities continue. 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 metals contamination here originates directly from slag deposited during log sort yard operations conducted between 1977 and 1981, well within the pre-1986 window when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Ecology's surface water investigations in 1983 and 1984 confirmed contamination from those operations before 1986, and the site's listing on the National Priorities List in 1982 established early regulatory recognition of the hazard. The documented remediation costs — soil excavation, containment cell construction, and more than a decade of quarterly groundwater monitoring — represent expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the 1977–1981 operational period may be obligated to recover.
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.
