John Ryan, Author at Northwest Public Broadcasting

Scientists Pinpoint Chemical That’s Been Killing Northwest Coho Salmon. It Comes From Tires

By John Ryan December 7, 2020

A coho salmon gapes for air, one of the symptoms of "urban runoff mortality syndrome," in Miller Creek in Normandy Park, Washington. Screenshot from University of Washington video

Coho salmon returning to freshwater each fall often die, gasping for breath and swimming aimlessly, before they are able to spawn. Scientists now know why. After years of chemical sleuthing, scientists have pinpointed the toxic substance that’s been killing large numbers of coho salmon in Northwest creeks.Read More

COVID-19 Cases Surge Across Washington’s Nursing Homes

By John Ryan April 13, 2020

Sisters Seri Sedlacek, left, and Susan Simpkins look in on their father, Chuck Sedlacek, at the Life Care Center, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Kirkland. Shuksan Healthcare Center in Bellingham is working to avoid what happened at the Kirkland facility. CREDIT: Elaine Thompson/AP

The number of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities with confirmed COVID-19 cases more than doubled in the first eight days of April. Nursing and assisted-living centers in Bellingham, Coupeville, Everett, Kennewick, Kirkland, Richland and Shoreline have each reported at least 25 COVID-19 casesRead More

Upper Skagit Tribe Offers $5K Reward After Looting Of North Cascades Site

By John Ryan January 19, 2020

North Cascades National Park. CREDIT: John Ryan/KUOW

National Park Service police have been investigating the illegal excavation of an ancient mountain-goat hunting camp. They discovered someone had dug up the “Rock Shelter” site outside the town of Newhalem, Washington, last summer.Read More

Audubon Study: More Than Half Of Washington Birds Species Risk Extinction From Climate Change

By John Ryan October 12, 2019

A bufflehead, one of 20 duck species that could lose most of their habitat in Washington state to climate change. CREDIT: John Ryan/KUOW

The study found that across North America, 389 species, or nearly two-thirds of the continent’s birds, are vulnerable to the heat waves, rising seas, increased fires and storms and other disruptions that 3 °C of climate change could bring.Read More

Cleaner Fuels Could Soon Power Washington Cars If New Fuel Standard Passes Legislature

By John Ryan March 14, 2019

Tailpipe exhaust is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Washington state and nationwide. CREDIT: RICK BOWMER/AP

After hours of contentious floor debate, the Washington House of Representatives passed a low-carbon fuel standard this week. The result, if the state Senate also passes it: Cleaner fuels could start flowing from gas pumps in Washington state over the coming decade.Read More

Jay Inslee Says He’s The 2020 Climate Candidate. What Does His Record Say?

By John Ryan March 4, 2019

Governor Jay Inslee points to the crowd after announcing his candidacy for President on Friday, March 1, 2019, at A&R Solar on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER/KUOW

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced on Friday what political observers in his state have been expecting for months: He’s running for president, and focusing his campaign on climate change. But how strong is his record tackling, in his words, “the most urgent challenge of our time”?Read More

Another Endangered Puget Sound Orca Suffering From ‘Peanut Head’

By John Ryan January 3, 2019

Orca J17 in Haro Strait on Dec. 31, 2018. CREDIT: MELISSA PINNOW/CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH

A southern resident orca appears to be emaciated, suffering from the disfiguring condition called “peanut head.” Whale researchers encountered the southern resident orcas' J-pod on New Year's Eve as they swam in Haro Strait.Read More

Washington Tribes Oppose Canadian Pipeline, More Oil Tankers In Salish Sea

By John Ryan December 1, 2018

Representatives of Washington tribes perform a "paddle song" at the start of a hearing in Victoria, B.C., on the Trans Mountain Pipeline. CREDIT: NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD

Tribal leaders and members from Washington state crossed the Salish Sea to oppose a pipeline that could bring more oil tankers to waters on both sides of U.S.-Canada border. The Canadian government wants to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline and triple the flow of oil from Alberta to the Pacific coast.Read More

Super Bacteria In Puget Sound Wildlife Could Endanger Humans

By John Ryan November 27, 2018

Transient whales are shown on Friday, August 10, 2018, as crews attempt to locate the JPod. (Image taken under the authority of NMFS MMPA/ESA Permit No. 18786-03) CREDIT: KUOW PHOTO/MEGAN FARMER

Last year, researchers reported finding 35 kinds of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in the exhaled breaths of killer whales off the San Juan Islands. Sewage treatment plants are usually effective at getting rid of bacteria — that’s their main purpose — but they fail to screen antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals from reaching otters or other aquatic organisms.Read More

Another Puget Sound Orca Struggles, But 3 Others Are Pregnant

By John Ryan September 30, 2018

Drone photography reveals the bulging midriffs of pregnant orcas in 2015 and 2018. NOAA/SWFSC

The lean profile of the whale known as K25 is yet another sign of trouble for the region’s endangered orcas. Since last November, three members of the long-endangered population have died, most recently an emaciated young female known as J50.Read More

Efforts Continue To Save ‘Critically Endangered’ J-50 Orca, But It May Be Too Late

By John Ryan September 13, 2018

Southern Resident killer whale J50 and her mother, J16, off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew, B.C., on August 7. CREDIT: BRIAN GISBORNE, FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA

Officials in Canada and the U.S. are hatching a plan to temporarily capture and treat an emaciated orca. The young whale known as J-50 hasn't been spotted in nearly a week and could already be dead.Read More

Canadian Judge Halts Tar Sands Pipeline, Citing Impacts To Puget Sound Orcas

By John Ryan August 31, 2018

Canadian federal judge Eleanor Dawson said that regulators failed to consider the pipeline's potential impacts of increased shipping on Southern resident killer whales. CREDIT: CANDICE EMMONS / NOAA FISHERIES/NORTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER

A Canadian federal judge has halted construction of a pipeline that would have sent more oil tankers through Washington waters.Read More

Gas-Guzzling Cities, State Blow Past Deadline For Electric Vehicles In Washington

By John Ryan June 3, 2018

A parking spot is designated for electric vehicles at the charging station outside of the Ballard Market on Monday, December 11, 2017, in Seattle. CREDIT MEGAN FARMER - KUOW

Washington state’s electric vehicle law is being widely ignored, according to a new report. June 1 was the deadline set by a decade-old law that requires vehicles in government fleets to run on electricity or biofuel. But just two percent of the state's motor pool is electric now, and many cities and counties have no electric vehicles at all.Read More

Washington Tribes Vow To Fight Canadian Pipeline With ‘Brothers And Sisters In The North’

By John Ryan May 30, 2018

A member of Puget Sound's Swinomish tribe participating in a ceremonial salmon blessing. Northwest tribes hold vigils along the Columbia River to pray for the return of salmon. CREDIT: KUOW PHOTO/KATIE CAMPBELL

The government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that it is buying the pipeline from Texas-based Kinder Morgan. The pipeline, built in 1953, currently carries 300,000 barrels of heavy tar sands oil daily from Alberta to British Columbia and refineries in Washington state.Read More

How The Puyallup Tribe Brings Salmon Home

By John Ryan May 22, 2018

Fred Dillon, second left, has help from his son, Codi Dillon, 10, while returning the salmon to the water after a tribal ceremony honoring the first salmon caught by Puyallup tribal fishermen on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, in Tacoma. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER/KUOW

The Puyallup Tribe welcomed the first salmon of the year back to the Puyallup River in Tacoma on Tuesday. Strangely, perhaps, that chinook’s epic journey from mid-Pacific Ocean to a Puyallup fishing net begins with a sloshing tanker truck.Read More

This Is Why You Don’t See People-Sized Salmon Anymore

By John Ryan March 2, 2018

Fisherman Tony Canessa with an 85-pound chinook he caught near Astoria, Oregon, in 1925. CREDIT: U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

While the orcas of Puget Sound are sliding toward extinction, orcas farther north have been expanding their numbers. Their burgeoning hunger for big fish may be causing the killer whales’ main prey, chinook salmon, to shrink up and down the West Coast.Read More

Remember NAFTA? It Might Keep Atlantic Salmon Farms In Puget Sound

By John Ryan February 20, 2018

Cooke Aquaculture's ruined Atlantic salmon farm off Cypress Island on Aug. 28. CREDIT: WASHINGTON DNR

The Canadian owner of an Atlantic salmon farm that collapsed last summer near Anacortes vows to use the North American Free Trade Agreement to save its fish farms in Puget Sound. New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture says it will pursue mandatory arbitration under NAFTA if the Washington legislature tries to phase out Atlantic salmon farming.Read More

Washington House Votes To Ban Atlantic Salmon Farms

By John Ryan February 15, 2018

What appears to be a destroyed net pen at Cooke Aquaculture's facility on Cypress Island is shown on Tuesday, August 22, 2017. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER/KUOW

The Washington House of Representatives has voted to phase out farming of non-native fish in state waters, drawing the end of Atlantic salmon farming in Puget Sound one step closer.Read More

What Amazon Doesn’t Want You To Know About The Cloud

By John Ryan February 12, 2018

Pedestrians crossing the street in front of Amazon's headquarters in Seattle. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER

Carbon emissions by the tech giants that dominate cloud computing are surging, even as companies like Amazon and Microsoft take steps to tame their climate impact.Read More

‘Climate Leader’ Seattle: Lots Of Promises, Lots Of Pollution

By John Ryan January 11, 2018

For more than 10 years, Seattle leaders have said the city will lead the nation in fighting climate change. But the lofty words have been matched by continuing clouds of carbon emissions. Seattle dumps as much carbon dioxide into the sky as it did 25 years ago.Read More