Reporting from Alaska and Washington state throughout 2015, John Ryan covered Shell Oil's ultimately unsuccessful attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean.
The Radio-Television Digital News Association deemed his work for KUCB and for Seattle NPR station KUOW the best continuing coverage at any radio station in Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Idaho or Washington in 2015.
Taking audiences into the midst of a flotilla of kayaking protesters in downtown Seattle or onto the remote shores of the Bering Sea, where a Shell icebreaker tore a hole in its hull last summer, he watchdogged one of the world's most controversial energy projects.
John, KUOW's investigative reporter, spent four months as fill-in news director at KUCB public radio in Unalaska, the Bering Sea port town where Shell’s Arctic fleet was based. His coverage included using peer-reviewed science to debunk the Obama administration's rhetoric on the Arctic: The White House used Alaska as a backdrop to position Obama as a global leader on climate change the same month it gave the go-ahead to Arctic oil development that would inevitably push the world to dangerous degrees of warming.
You can listen to a 30-minute montage of the award-winning stories here.
Next, the KUOW/KUCB entry competes against 13 other regional winners for a national Edward R. Murrow award, to be announced by June. Congratulations, John!
See 'Related Content' below for links to John's latest KUCB stories, and click on these headlines to see his work on Arctic drilling featured in various media outlets:
Shell Oil Rig Still Bound For Seattle, Despite Port Vote
Hundreds Of 'Kayaktivists' In Seattle Protest Shell's Arctic Drilling
Arctic-Drilling Protesters To Move Barge After Damaging Popular Dive Site
Alaskan Greens: Obama’s Words, Actions Conflict On Climate Change
Shell Oil Rig Arrives At Port Of Seattle
Delayed Shell Icebreaker Arrives In Arctic
CO2 From Arctic Ocean Oil Could Swamp Obama's Climate Efforts
Feds Fault Shell's Risk-Taking in Arctic Oil Rig Wreck
Greenpeace Activists Protest Shell Oil's Plan To Drill In The Arctic Ocean
Shell's Oil Rigs Leave The Arctic--And Skip Seattle
Shell Gets Final Approval To Drill Into Oil-Bearing Rock in the Chukchi
Shell's Arctic Bust Echoes Around Alaska and Beyond
French Sailor Makes Desperate Pacific Ocean Leap Onto Shell Vessel
