Newswise — Timothy Krantz, Ph.D. is a professor of environmental science at the University of Redlands who can speak on the Trump administration’s decision to defund the Earthquake Early Warning system.

"The Trump administration's failure to fund the Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system threatens this vital program and potentially the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people on the West Coast from California to Alaska. Seismic waves emanating from an earthquake travel at only a few miles per second. The EEW system could detect a seismic event originating at the Salton Sea and send an alert to public safety, hospitals or your cell phone, giving one precious seconds or even up to a few minutes warning prior to the shaking," Krantz says. "This could give school children time to "duck and cover" or surgical rooms time to stop and stabilize the patient before things start to move. For the cost of less than $10 million, the Trump administration's budget proposal would defund the EEW and put tens of thousands of people's lives at greater risk."  

An internationally recognized expert on a broad scope of environmental issues—including California geography, hydraulic fracturing or "fracking", climate change, sustainability, renewable energy and environmental impact assessment and planning—Krantz is a Fulbright Ambassador and served as a Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer in 2010 to facilitate environmental technology and policy exchange between the U.S., European Union, California, and Austria. As a known authority on the Salton Sea in California, Krantz oversaw a multi-million dollar grant to develop a regional geographic database for the area. Before returning to his alma mater, the University of Redlands, as a faculty member in 1997, Krantz ran his own environmental consultancy business. 

Krantz is a graduate of the University of Redlands (B.A., ethnobotany), Stanford University (M.A., Latin American Studies), and University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., Geography). He has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Huff Post, KPBS, CBS News, Japan Times and others.