This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1920. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property has served industrial purposes since at least the 1920s, when a raw-coal bunker and crusher occupied the site. In the 1960s the coal facilities were replaced by a 250,000-gallon concrete underground storage tank holding Bunker C oil (Fuel Oil No. 6) as backup fuel for the adjacent EnWave steam plant. Site investigations conducted between 1990 and 2022 identified petroleum contamination originating from the former UST. Under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, the selected remedy includes retaining existing engineering controls, installing new monitoring wells and a soil vapor probe, recording an environmental covenant, and five years of groundwater monitoring at an estimated cost of $130,000; a more aggressive soil-excavation alternative was evaluated at $2,900,000 but not selected. 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.
Petroleum storage and handling at this site began decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The contamination detected here traces directly to that pre-1986 bulk-fuel infrastructure — a quarter-million-gallon UST installed in the 1960s and operated continuously through the policy period. Investigation and remediation costs already incurred over three decades, together with the ongoing monitoring and characterization work still ahead, represent expenditures that historical CGL carriers may be obligated both to reimburse 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.
