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 Tacoma property operated as an ARCO gasoline station (Facility No. 0247) with six underground storage tanks — five gasoline USTs in a common tank basin and one additional previously unknown tank. In October 1987, Earth Consultants Inc. oversaw the removal of all six USTs and the site was razed and redeveloped; subsequent investigation through the Voluntary Cleanup Program revealed extensive groundwater contamination, with TPH-G concentrations reaching 55,000 µg/L, benzene at 455 µg/L, MTBE at 21.9 µg/L, and lead at 224 µg/L — all well above MTCA Method A cleanup levels. Groundwater monitoring across seven wells continued from 2003 through 2011, and 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 six underground storage tanks removed from this property in 1987 had been installed years earlier, placing the origin of petroleum operations — and the onset of gasoline and lead contamination — squarely within the pre-1986 window when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Nearly a decade of groundwater monitoring across seven wells, documenting a contamination plume with benzene, BTEX, MTBE, and lead concentrations far exceeding cleanup standards, represents the kind of sustained remediation expenditure those historical policies were written to cover. Carriers who insured this ARCO station during its pre-1986 operational years may still be obligated to recover those cleanup 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.