Originally published Monday, July 28, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Editorial notebook
What price Puget Sound?
The value Earth Economics places on Puget Sound, but we are not sure what to make of it, nor of the eco-accounting behind it.
We are not quite sure what to make of the multibillion-dollar price put on Puget Sound. Our first thought was, no one ever had to buy it, and we are not going to sell it. We are not even thinking of putting a mortgage on it.
A team of economists at Earth Economics, an environmental group, has gone through a long calculation and determined that Puget Sound and its attendant ecosystem are worth $7 billion to $62 billion a year. Probably there is value in this calculation, though the spread between the numbers suggests that eco-accounting is not yet an exact science.
The higher figure suggests that the Sound has an asset value greater than a trillion dollars. We hope very much we will not have to pay taxes on it, and in that regard we note that King County Assessor Scott Noble has so far declined to assess it.
But what does it mean? The purpose of pricing the Sound is apparently to tell people that degrading it costs them, and that protecting it is worth money. Often that is so.
But much of the value of the Sound comes from the same development that creates the problems. Elliott and Commencement bays are surely worth more as deep-water harbors than had they been preserved like the Nisqually Delta.
And yet, having the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, we would preserve the Nisqually. Is that an economic decision? It wasn't, at the time.
— Bruce Ramsey
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 02:37 PM
Charles Krauthammer / Syndicated columnist: Iran's leaderless revolution: searching for a Yeltsin
NEW - 02:26 PM
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: The triumph and tragedy of Michael Jackson
NEW - 02:48 PM
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: What does a homosexual demon look like?

Tribal Fireworks Rivalry
The Fourth of July marks a long-standing fireworks rivalry between two clans of a Native-American family in Suquamish.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling'
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Fourth of July festivals and fireworks in Seattle, the suburbs and beyond
- Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
- More than 1 million seek tix for Jackson memorial
- Rob Johnson's double in 11th powers Mariners past Red Sox, 7-6
- Palin resigning as Alaska governor
748 - Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox: 07/04 game thread
244 - Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
99 - Reports: NKorean missile arrives at launch site
98 - Palin's Declaration of Independence
73 - Mariners score unlikely win over Red Sox in battle of bullpens
58 - Rob Johnson ties a club record as Mariners win 7-6 in 11 innings
54 - Hatred for the NBA runs deep, but don't take it out on the players
53 - Former NFL MVP McNair killed
41 - Man pistol-whipped after argument at nightclub
40
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Liven up Fremont's attempt to break a world record for a 'zombie walk'
- Merchant Marine veterans fight for recognition
- Lynnwood's City Bank gets tighter scrutiny
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Retail Report | Pet-supply shops grow while other retailers fade
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling'
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail

