This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1947. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
The Sea Tac United Fuel Farm is located at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which has operated since 1947, with United Airlines maintaining fuel farm infrastructure at the site since well before 1986. The presence of PCBs — whose manufacture was banned in 1979 — confirms that facility operations predate at least the late 1970s. A companion site for United tank removal was listed with Ecology in 1990, and this fuel farm was first placed on the Contaminated Sites List in June 1993. Site investigations have identified petroleum products, halogenated organics, metals, PCBs, and non-halogenated solvents in both groundwater and surface water; the site is currently awaiting cleanup. 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.
United Airlines' fuel farm operations at Sea-Tac date to the jet age, with the airport opening in 1947 and PCB detections confirming industrial activity well before 1979. Occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies issued to the operators during those decades carried no effective pollution exclusion and remain enforceable in Washington. The contamination now documented across five contaminant classes in groundwater and surface water represents the type of gradual, operations-linked release those pre-1986 policies were designed to cover, and the investigation and remediation costs this site now faces could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force during that operational window.
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.