John Ryan
Environment Reporter
About
John Ryan joined KUOW as its first full-time investigative reporter in 2009 and became its environment reporter in 2018. He focuses on climate change, energy, and the ecosystems of the Puget Sound region. He has also investigated toxic air pollution, landslides, failed cleanups, and money in politics for KUOW.
Over a quarter century as an environmental journalist, John has covered everything from Arctic drilling to Indonesian reef bombing. He has been a reporter at NPR stations in southeast and southwest Alaska (KTOO-Juneau and KUCB-Unalaska) and at the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
John’s stories have won multiple national awards for KUOW, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting, national Edward R. Murrow and PMJA/PRNDI awards for coverage of breaking news, and Society of Environmental Journalists awards for in-depth reporting.
John welcomes tips, documents, and feedback. Reach him at jryan@kuow.org or for secure, encrypted communication, he's at heyjohnryan@protonmail.com or 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, some Spanish, some Indonesian
Professional Affiliations: SAG-AFTRA union member and former shop steward; Society of Environmental Journalists member and mentor
Stories
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Environment
Washington state is in danger of breaking its own climate laws, Inslee says
Without urgent action by the Legislature, Washington state will run afoul of its own pollution laws, according to Gov. Jay Inslee.
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Environmental justice moves to mainstream as governments embrace cause
Washington state’s oil refineries all sit near, or on, Indian reservations. Advocates say that fits a national pattern of pollution disproportionately hitting people of color.
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Environment
Out in Seattle: Downtown tolls. In: Electric cars
Mayor Durkan shelves major climate initiative after pushback from equity advocates.
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Environment
Washington readies juice, rice wine, and other weapons to fight ‘murder hornets’
When it comes to fighting ‘murder hornets,’ dental floss is so 2020.
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Environment
This bird’s brain grows in winter to remember where it stashed its food
Each winter, the part of the bird's raspberry-sized brain that remembers locations grows 30 percent.
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Government
Disparities faced by Native Americans 'a national disgrace', Quinault president says
“We have the right as sovereign nations to say 'yes' or 'no,' and that right must be respected.”
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Environment
LISTEN: Whale songs reveal map of Earth's crust
Scientists have used one of the loudest sounds in nature to map Earth’s crust. It’s the song of the fin whale.
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Environment
Look! It's a bouncing baby orca in Puget Sound
At eight and a half feet long, it’s not your average baby.
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Environment
Seattle Schools to stop using fossil fuels in 20 years
Seattle Public Schools aims to stop using fossil fuels in the school district’s buildings and buses in the next 20 years. Though that timeline is half as ambitious as a citywide one adopted by Seattle in 2019, backers say it’s the first school district in Washington to commit to phasing out fossil fuels.
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Business
Speed, small talk led to oil-tanker crash, feds find
A tanker transporting liquefied petroleum gas was coming in too fast and at too steep an angle when it crashed into a wharf at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board has found. It didn’t help that the ship’s captain and a harbor pilot engaged in two minutes of “non-pertinent conversation” on the bridge as the big ship closed in on the dock.