As 3JPLW mentioned, the 2001 Nisqually event was in the subducting Juan de Fuca slab, not on the plate interface, and was quite deep (52 km). The Cascadia plate interface itself does have quite regular 'slow earthquakes'[1] at the lower edge of the locked zone, where M~6 earthquakes occur over about a week and a half, and don't produce much shaking. We just found out about them by watching patterns in GPS data from fixed locations.
Regardless, Goldfinger is still correct on all the statements that you've quoted. In addition to the scientific content, it still is possible to spend several lifetimes in the PNW (which does extend beyond King County) in between the 1700 event and the 2001 event. Granted, there was the 1872 event near Lake Chelan [2], which was the biggest PNW quake since 1700, but still... there were multiple generations of people born in between 1872 and 2001.
Regardless, Goldfinger is still correct on all the statements that you've quoted. In addition to the scientific content, it still is possible to spend several lifetimes in the PNW (which does extend beyond King County) in between the 1700 event and the 2001 event. Granted, there was the 1872 event near Lake Chelan [2], which was the biggest PNW quake since 1700, but still... there were multiple generations of people born in between 1872 and 2001.
[1]: http://www.geodesy.cwu.edu/instruments/tilt/explanation_ETS....
[2]: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/scientists-may-be-c...