John Ryan
Reporter
About
Environment reporter John Ryan welcomes tips, documents and feedback from listeners. For secure, confidential communication: he's at 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app, you can use KUOW’s SecureDrop portal, or you can send snail mail (but don't put your return address on the outside!) to John Ryan, KUOW, 4518 Univ. Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Good thing John was a clumsy traveler.
Otherwise his cheap microcassette recorder wouldn't have fallen out of his pocket in an Indonesian taxi, a generous BBC stringer wouldn't have lent him some recording gear, and he wouldn't have gotten the radio bug. But after pointing a mic at rare jungle songbirds and gong-playing grandmothers for his first radio story, there was no turning back.
He spent several years freelancing for most of the major public radio news shows (as well as newspapers including Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times). John also did an award-winning documentary for KUOW on the side from a day gig covering transportation at the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
In 2009, John moved back to Seattle to become KUOW’s first investigative reporter after two exciting years covering avalanches, political intrigue and just about everything in between for KTOO, the NPR station in Alaska's capital city. He returned to Alaska for a 4-month stint in the Aleutian Islands in 2015 and won awards for KUOW and KUCB-Unalaska for his coverage of Arctic oil drilling from two states.
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 and national Edward R. Murrow and PRNDI awards for coverage of breaking news.
John is a shop steward of KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA newsroom union.
He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
Stories
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KUOW Newsroom
What to do with toxic waste next to Lake Washington? Burn it underground
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a surprising cleanup plan for some toxic waste along the shores of Lake Washington. It wants to burn it underground.
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KUOW Newsroom
Move over, Seattle pedestrians? Scooters may be headed your way
Bothell, Everett, Redmond, Spokane and Tacoma have all welcomed rental scooters to their streets and sidewalks. Now Seattle plans to make motorized scooters available to rent in the first half of next year. KUOW's John Ryan reports.
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KUOW Newsroom
Rising Northwest waters bring tough choice: fight or flight
The climate’s already changing. People north of Seattle have been facing the muddy consequences head-on.
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KUOW Newsroom
State blames deadly tower-crane collapse on 3 companies
State officials are blaming the deadly collapse of a tower crane in Seattle last spring on three construction companies' failure to follow safety rules. Those companies have been fined a total of $107,000, and the state is considering new rules for tower-crane safety.
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KUOW Newsroom
Seattle construction causes two major gas leaks in a week
Seattle has had two major gas leaks in less than a week, both caused by construction workers digging in the wrong place.
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KUOW Newsroom
Gas leak in University District: Don't go out onto the Ave, officials say
A gas leak in Seattle’s University District has all but shut down the surrounding blocks.
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KUOW Newsroom
More than half of Washington bird species threatened by warming climate
Even species that are common today, like nuthatches, juncos and 20 species of ducks, could have few places left to turn.
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KUOW Newsroom
West Coast cities lauded for curbing carbon — except Seattle. Here’s why
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has joined mayors from around the world at a climate summit in Copenhagen.
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KUOW Newsroom
Seattle taxes oil heating, but postpones action on natural gas
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has signed a tax on heating oil into law. Money from the tax would go to help homeowners replace their oil heat with climate-friendly alternatives.
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KUOW Newsroom
Feds push for dirtier waters. Tribes say that threatens their health
Washington tribes say the Trump administration is violating their treaty rights and endangering their health. Those were some of the complaints at a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to allow more pollution in Washington waters — and Washington fish.