This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
The Lighthouse Baptist Church property in Anacortes was the site of a release from a corroded 550-gallon underground heating oil tank, which was removed along with 162.9 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil treated via thermal desorption. Soil beneath the tank tested at 37,000 mg/kg diesel-range hydrocarbons — nearly eighteen times MTCA's 2,000 mg/kg cleanup threshold. Approximately 1,650 gallons of petroleum and water were vacuumed from drainage pipes, free product was extracted from recovery wells at roughly 250 gallons per cycle, Bio Solve bioremediation was applied bi-weekly over five months, and sorbent booms were deployed in a stormwater catch basin for six months. Cleanup work remains ongoing under the Standard Cleanup program. 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.
Site investigation at this property identified a separate, older gasoline contamination — characterized in documents as a "dark old petroleum product" and explicitly distinguished from the recently leaked red-dyed heating oil — attributed to unknown historical petroleum sources on or near the property. Records note that many tanks in the vicinity were historically removed or filled in place, indicating a legacy of petroleum storage activity that predates modern regulation. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to operators during that pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion and may be enforceable to fund the remediation costs this property still faces.
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.
