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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a petroleum bulk storage and distribution facility — documented in remediation records as Unocal Bulk Plant No. 0740 and subsequently as the Tosco (76 Products Company) Bulk Plant No. 0740 — before being decommissioned. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included hot spot soil excavation, follow-up soil removal, multi-year groundwater monitoring and sampling, and well decommissioning, with remedial activities running from January 1998 through November 2003. Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program has issued a No Further Action determination for the site. 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.
Bulk petroleum storage and distribution at this address was conducted under the Unocal and 76 Products Company brands — legacy operators whose facilities routinely predated 1986 by decades — before the plant was decommissioned and remediation commenced in 1998. Occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies in force during those earlier operational years carried no effective pollution exclusion, and the petroleum hydrocarbon releases addressed through soil excavation, groundwater monitoring, and well decommissioning here are precisely the type of slow, diffuse contamination those policies were written to cover. Historical carriers whose CGL policies were active during the plant's operating life may remain obligated to recover the documented cleanup expenditures.
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.
