Hound Dog's recent diary on the Wall Street Journal story detailing the link between global warming and earthquakes highlights another way in which the changes wrought by global warming might be neither gradual nor reversible.
While public discussion of this relationship has been minimal, another Wall Street Journal story (this one from June 6), suggests that smart money has already grasped the implications of this connection.
The prosaic headline reads, "Allstate to Drop Quake Coverage For Most Clients to Cut Exposure" (page D5). The insurance company has decided to drop earthquake insurance to most of its 407,000 quake insurance customers nationwide. The company hasn't written any new earthquake insurance policies since March 6.
Allstate has also declined storm renewals in some parts of Florida and New York, and has been taking "a hard look" at coastal coverage from Texas to Florida.
Other than California, the Insurance Information Institute lists Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City and New York City (!) as among cities with high loss potential. In California the California Earthquake Authority provides earthquake insurance to 14% of the state's homeowners. They are unaffected by the Allstate decision.