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.

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 fuel transfer operations at Terminal 91 began in the 1920s — more than six decades before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased to be the industry standard. Successive operators across that pre-1986 window — oil companies from 1926, the U.S. Navy from 1941, and the Port of Seattle from the 1970s — held or were covered by policies written without an effective pollution exclusion. The multi-contaminant groundwater and surface water impacts documented at this site represent long-duration environmental liabilities tied directly to those decades of fuel storage and transfer, and the remediation costs already incurred and still accumulating may be recoverable from the historical carriers who underwrote those operations.

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.