This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1926. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Yakima City Airport property, first developed as McAllister Field flight school in 1926, hosted multiple underground storage tank systems serving fuel storage and distribution over several decades. Former Mountain Oil USTs were installed around 1946 and operated for 49 years; Maintenance Shop, Republic Terminal, Cascade Terminal, City Fire Department, Richardson Airways, and other UST systems each operated for 30 or more years before removal in 1995 and 1996. Petroleum hydrocarbons — both diesel and gasoline — were identified in groundwater at the site. The site has achieved No Further Action status under the state's cleanup program. 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.
Fuel storage and distribution at this airport dates to at least 1946, with some tank systems operating continuously for nearly five decades before removal — placing the onset of operations squarely in the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation work — removal of multiple UST systems, site investigation, and groundwater assessment — represents cleanup expenditures tied to infrastructure installed and operated well before 1986. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that decades-long operational window may be obligated to reimburse those costs.
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.