President Trump broke bureaucratic tradition by ordering The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to immediately active their disaster assistance resources as soon as it was known that Hurricane Harvey would hit Texas. I wonder how many people know that the usual protocol is for the state to have to request disaster assistance before FEMA is activated. This can take days after the storm hits.

In the previous major disasters of Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, Charleston, South Carolina, and Homestead, Florida, were helpless for days without power, water, and unable to move around in the devastation before FEMA relief was finally requested, approved and activated.

The President deserves credit for daring to decisively slice through the red tape in advance for a major disaster such as Harvey.

ROBERT REDMOND SR., CANTON

Congress late to act on climate change

In the AJC article, “The relationship between hurricanes and climate change,” News, Aug. 27, it is reported that the impact of climate change on hurricanes is not precise but it does affect them.

As a concerned, frequent voter, I am perturbed Congress has not yet passed legislation that would reduce fossil fuel dependence which contributes to global warming. Congress should have acted 20 years ago. It is 2017! We need action by Congress now. Ask them to support a bipartisan carbon pricing proposal with the fee returned to households. It will expedite the exit from a dirty to a clean-powered economy while providing support for low-income households and cost projections big businesses need to retool/invent a sustainable future. If we do not reduce greenhouse emissions, our beautiful and talented kids will witness increasingly threatening weather events.

BOB JAMES, ATLANTA