Global warming is known to be destructive, but a study released Wednesday shows it also will be expensive, costing Washington state and its residents millions of dollars in higher prices and remedial measures.

Climbing temperatures over the next 40 years will boost the cost of timber, water and crops, cause twice the wildfire damage that occurs now, exacerbate health issues and require expensive shoring-up to avoid damage to Tacoma, Willapa Bay and other low-lying areas.

Those are the top-level conclusions reached in "Impacts of Climate Change on Washington's Economy," a 118-page, $100,000 study prepared by researchers from Washington and Oregon.

"It's safe to say that virtually every aspect of the state's economy will be affected by climate change," said co-author Bob Doppelt, director of the Climate Leadership Initiative at the University of Oregon, in a teleconference after the study's release.

"But the impacts are manageable with an appropriate response, and climate change does open the door for new economic opportunities."

The highly detailed study is this state's first attempt to assess how rising temperatures -- an average of 2 degrees higher than the 1970-99 average by the 2020s and 3 degrees higher by the 2040s -- will affect its $269 billion economy.

The study provided no dollar total for the changes' costs and gave no suggestions for policy changes to minimize the effect of climate change, because the group wasn't asked to do so, Doppelt said.

But Janice Adair, special assistant to Ecology Director Jay Manning, said the state had been waiting for the study to augment efforts to cope with the effects of climate change.

"I can't say that we have any initiatives currently under way" directly addressing climate change, she said. But she said a number of other projects, such as retrofitting school buses to reduce diesel emissions and electrifying truck stops to reduce idling, are already curbing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which are the major cause of global warming.

The study concluded that:

Increased carbon dioxide will mean bigger trees, while higher temperatures increase the incidence of wildfire. The number of acres burned will increase by 50 percent by 2020 and by 100 percent by 2040, so the annual cost of fighting wildfires may exceed $75 million by 2020 -- 50 percent higher than the current expenditures. That cost will double by 2040.

Lost timber sales, lost recreational and tourism opportunities, and health problems stemming from fires could be "many times higher" than the cost of fire control, Doppelt said.

The warming could cause unquantified public health costs through an increased spread of West Nile virus and increasing incidence of asthma, which already costs the state $400 million a year, and through heat-related illnesses and mortality.

Winters will bring more rain and less snow in the mountains, leading to a reduction in the snowpack essential for the summer water supply in Seattle and numerous other parts of the state. The cost of offsetting that decline through conservation measures could exceed $8 million per year by the 2020s and double that by the 2040s. Communities such as Spokane, Wenatchee and Walla Walla also will face increased costs for drinking water.

Puget Sound is likely to rise between 1 and 5 inches per decade, affecting mainly the land adjacent to the south part of Puget Sound. A 2-foot sea level rise would inundate 56 square miles of the state, affecting at least 44,000 people -- larger than the current population of Olympia. These rises could trigger costly upgrades to shoreline protection and to bridges and culverts.

Sea-level increases also will affect low-lying agricultural areas such as Willapa Bay and the Skagit River delta. Ports within reach of tidewater will feel the effects, as will the outer coast area because of increased erosion and increased vulnerability to storm surges and high tides.

Farmers will have longer growing seasons, but they'll face reduced water supplies, increased water demands, and changes in pests, weeds and crop diseases. Destructive codling moths are now reproducing three times per season, up from twice, because of the increased warmth.

Whatcom and Yakima counties may experience up to a $6 million decline in dairy revenue by the 2040s because higher temperatures adversely affect dairy cows. The average annual crop loss in the Yakima basin because of water shortages and drought could rise from a historic average of $13 million to $79 million by midcentury.

Wine grapes in Eastern Washington will be pushed to the upper limit of their temperature tolerance range, meaning they'll have to move uphill or to other regions. Cooler areas, such as Western Washington, may become more suitable for grapes.

The study was peer-reviewed by 10 economists on a steering committee attached to the report, Doppelt said.

Global warming also presents economic opportunities, the study said, though it didn't try to quantify them. The state's $150 million solar industry could expand to help replace fossil fuels. So could wind-power projects, the fuel-cell industry and producers of biofuels.

A second study released Wednesday on Washington's greenhouse gas emissions said carbon dioxide emissions increased 32 percent between 1977 and 2004, mostly from burning fossil fuels for transportation and heat generation.

But Tony Usibelli, the Community, Trade and Economic Development assistant director for the state's Energy Policy Office, said Washington is moving to reduce emissions to pre-1990 levels. Adopting California's vehicle emissions standards, as only nine other states have done, and moving toward wider use of biofuels are key steps, he said.

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