This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1972. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a gasoline fueling station under Time Oil Company, a Pacific Northwest petroleum distributor, with three underground storage tanks for gasoline product located west of the on-site convenience store. The USTs — bare steel construction with no corrosion protection or double-wall design, consistent with pre-1986 installations — were decommissioned and removed by Alisto Engineering in September 1997. Groundwater contamination including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and total petroleum hydrocarbons required more than fourteen years of monitoring and multiple focused remediation events before the site received No Further Action status through the Voluntary Cleanup Program in 2012. 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 petroleum releases at this Skamania County site originated from bare steel underground storage tanks that were very likely installed before 1972 and operated for decades under occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Over fourteen years of groundwater monitoring, multiple remediation campaigns targeting BTEX and TPH-G contamination, and the eventual tank removal represent substantial documented cleanup expenditures tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Time Oil Company or the property operator during that window may still be obligated to recover 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.