How Historical Research Can Help Cost Recovery Efforts

History Associates has helped utility companies across the country in cost recovery efforts concerning former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. Clients have drawn on our historical and environmental research expertise in mining a broad array of sources to locate evidence and reconstruct key aspects of:

• the operational histories of individual manufactured gas plants;
• the long-term relationships between gas companies and the communities they served;
• the often-complex corporate genealogies associated with these sites and their neighbors;
• the historic land and water use patterns linked to these sites; and
• the evolution of standard production processes and waste disposal practices.

Building on extensive knowledge of the regulatory history of the industry, History Associates has tapped documents from local, state, and federal governments as well as trade associations, historical societies, and other institutional collections to establish the facts crucial to the litigation involving these sites.

Our MGP and environmental research investigations have led us to courthouse basements, long-neglected company archives, and even the personal collections of former gas company employees. We have found state utility commission records of the volume and sales of gas plant residuals, reports of fish and game inspectors that detail the construction of tar holders for ground disposal of MGP waste, and regulatory filings detailing nineteenth-century dredging and filling activities on gas plant and adjacent properties.

For several clients we have implemented custom document management solutions to help them sift through these sources in a variety of ways.

Note: Although the confidential nature of our work precludes detailed descriptions of specific projects, we will be happy to provide relevant references upon request.