This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property is part of the Yakima Airport, co-owned by the City of Yakima and Yakima County, where municipal maintenance and fire department operations relied on underground fuel storage for decades. Between 1995 and 1998, twenty-eight underground storage tanks were excavated and removed, with contaminated soil remediated onsite through landfarming. A multi-year Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study conducted from 2009 through 2011 included sixty-six soil borings and extensive groundwater monitoring to evaluate natural attenuation, capping, and institutional controls as remedial alternatives. 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.
Petroleum contamination at this airport originated from underground storage tanks that were in service well before 1986 — tank sale records from 1991 and the scale of the UST infrastructure confirm decades of pre-1986 fueling operations. Occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies issued to the municipal operators during that window carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law. The documented remediation expenditures — removal of twenty-eight tanks, soil treatment, a multi-year investigation, groundwater monitoring, and Ecology oversight charges — represent costs that historical carriers who covered the airport's 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
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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.
