This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1946. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
McChord Air Force Base has operated as an active military installation since at least 1946, encompassing over 4,600 acres in Pierce County. Historical operations at the affected sub-sites include a Transportation Area (motor pool) and an aircraft washrack where planes were washed and drained of fuel. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program has included excavation of contaminated soils and drywells — removing 427 tons and an additional 11.27 tons and 10 cubic yards at separate areas — along with backfilling and paving of pits and ditches, implementation of institutional controls, and extended groundwater monitoring to track intrinsic bioremediation and natural attenuation. The site has reached No Further Action status. 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 McChord AFB traces to fuel-handling and maintenance operations — aircraft washracks, motor pools, drywells — that were active from the 1940s through at least the early 1980s, well before 1986 when occurrence-based CGL policies ceased to provide reliable pollution coverage. Multiple sub-sites (LF-01 operational from 1946, LF-02 through 1976, WP-61 from 1953 to 1960) document decades of pre-1986 activity that generated the contamination now subject to remediation. The documented scope of cleanup — multi-site soil excavation measured in hundreds of tons, ongoing groundwater monitoring, and permanent institutional controls — represents the kind of liability trail that historical carriers whose policies were in force during those operational decades may still be obligated to fund.
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.
