This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as a petroleum dispensing facility operated by Mid States Cooperative, a farm and ranch supply cooperative in Ellensburg. Three 12,000-gallon diesel underground storage tanks and one 4,000-gallon gasoline UST were removed from the site in December 1999. Subsequent investigation revealed groundwater contamination exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels, with diesel measured at 695 ppb and benzene at 5.33 ppb in monitoring well MW4. Four groundwater monitoring wells were installed in 2000 and monitoring continued through 2008 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program; the site has since received a No Further Action determination. 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 underground storage tanks at this property — holding a combined 40,000 gallons of diesel and gasoline capacity — were in service for decades before their 1999 removal, with industry tank-lifecycle analysis placing their installation well before 1986. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the cooperative during that pre-1986 operational window carried no effective pollution exclusion and remain enforceable in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures here — tank removal, site investigation, monitoring-well installation, and nearly a decade of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers who covered the cooperative's petroleum operations may still be obligated to recover.
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
Stay up to date on environmental property cleanup laws and changes.
Report Email Updates
Request more information on this property
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.