John Ryan
Reporter
About
John Ryan joined KUOW as its first full-time investigative reporter in 2009 and took on the environment beat 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 a Society of Environmental Journalists award for in-depth reporting.
He is a shop steward for KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA newsroom union and believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
John welcomes tips, documents and feedback from listeners. 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
Professional Affiliations: SAG-AFTRA shop steward
Stories
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KUOW Newsroom
RIP Washington’s Hinman Glacier, gone after thousands of years
The largest glacier between the high peaks of Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak has melted away after a long battle with global warming.
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KUOW Newsroom
FBI warned of neo-Nazi plots as attacks on Northwest grid spiked
As a string of attacks on electrical substations unfolded in Oregon and Washington in 2022, the FBI was warning utilities of white supremacists’ plots to take down the nation’s power grid. A KUOW/OPB investigation reveals the scope of the threat to the Northwest grid.
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KUOW Blog
Suspects in Christmas grid attacks planned additional crimes, prosecutors say
The men charged with attacking four substations in Pierce County on Christmas day were plotting even more attacks on the power grid before they were arrested, according to federal prosecutors.
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KUOW Blog
Washington grid attacks flew under the radar for months
DOE data and other reporting by KUOW reveal previously unreported attacks on substations in Washington state this summer.
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KUOW Newsroom
Washington's apex has a national park. Its low point doesn’t have a name
Thousands climb Mount Rainier, Washington's highest point, each year. No one, apparently, has ever been to the state’s lowest point.
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KUOW Blog
Christmas brings new round of attacks on Northwest power grid
The Christmas crimes in Pierce County are the latest in a string of physical attacks on the Northwest power grid.
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KUOW Blog
‘Tis the season … for king tides around Puget Sound
‘Tis the season for king tides: The highest tides of the year. Extreme high tides are headed to Puget Sound Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning of the last week of December.
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Deadly flu hits Washington birds
Wildlife officials have found hundreds of dead snow geese around Washington’s Skagit Bay, suspected victims of highly pathogenic avian influenza: bird flu.
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String of electrical grid attacks in Pacific Northwest are unsolved
Electric substations in the Northwest have been attacked, at least two with firearms, according to documents obtained by OPB and KUOW.
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KUOW Newsroom
Murder kittens: outdoor cats take heavy toll on wildlife
Despite the wildlife hospital’s best efforts, 80 percent of cat-attack victims brought there do not survive.