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Monday, July 10, 2006
Global Climate Change: Cheap insurance
At last month's "climate change summit" hosted in Seattle by state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, it was King County Executive Ron Sims who stole the show.
Sims brings the hypothesis of global climate change down to Earth with his concerns over the county's levee system.
We have levees here?
Indeed, along the Green, Snoqualmie and Cedar rivers. In normal times, these levees protect against flooding along those rivers.
But what it we're headed for anything but normal times? What if the years and decades ahead, due to global climate change, bring more rainfall and earlier spring runoffs down the river valleys at the same time higher sea levels push up into the rivers? Will the levees be adequate under those conditions? Will cities in King County, like New Orleans, be wondering if the levees will hold?
Sims says that 27 straight days of rain last year seriously damaged some of the levees and that erosion of the Snoqualmie River bank threatens the Tolt River pipeline, through which about 30 percent of Seattle's drinking water flows.
Rather than wait for disaster to loom, Sims argued last week, "Let's make the investments and prevent it."
That investment would amount to as much as $335 million in repairs over the next 10 years, funded by a property tax increase of as much as $30 a year on a $300,000 home.
It would seem to be the cheapest insurance a homeowner could buy.
Tell us what's on your mind.
 | |
| What do you predict will be the 50-year impact of global climate change on the Puget Sound region? | |
 12.8%Devastating. |
33.4% Serious. |
| 12.8% Moderate. |
23.9% Hardly noticeable. |
| 17.0% Nonexistent. |
|
| Total Votes: 305 | |
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