This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1925. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.

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 Lower Baker generating station has operated since 1925 — more than six decades before the 1986 shift from occurrence-based to claims-made Commercial General Liability policies. Fuel storage infrastructure supporting the hydroelectric facility was in place throughout that pre-1986 window, during which CGL policies routinely covered pollution-related liabilities without an effective exclusion. The petroleum releases documented in groundwater and surface water here represent the kind of operational contamination those historical policies were written to address, and carriers who underwrote the facility during its decades of pre-1986 operation may still bear obligations for the associated 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.