This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1942. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
The City of Ephrata began operating this landfill on Highway 28 in approximately 1942, initially as an open dump through 1962 and thereafter as a municipal solid waste facility; the City owned and operated it until 1974, when Grant County assumed operations. Between 2,000 and 2,353 drums of industrial waste were buried at the site in 1975, and the facility was identified as a potential hazardous site in 1979, with a preliminary assessment submitted in 1984. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup Program has included excavation of those thousands of industrial waste drums along with 4,062 gallons of associated liquids, extraction of over 85,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater from a primary extraction point in 2008, installation of 43 landfill gas wells with active gas collection and flaring, landfill capping, surface water controls, and point-of-use treatment at a residential well — with multi-year work 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 contamination at this site traces to landfill operations and industrial waste burial events spanning from 1942 through 1975, entirely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Both the City of Ephrata and Grant County operated the facility as named insureds during that pre-1986 window, and the industrial drum burial of 1975 falls squarely within the period those policies were written to cover. The documented remediation costs here — drum excavation, groundwater extraction, landfill gas infrastructure, capping, and ongoing monitoring — represent expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the city and county during those operational decades may be obligated both to recover and to 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.
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.
