On Friday, Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, which represents Environmental Protection Agency employees in Chicago, said in a statement in response to recent extreme heat and air quality alerts: “In Chicago today, we are facing the double whammy of environmental stressors—a heat advisory and an air quality alert. As the union representing more than 1000 EPA workers in the Great Lakes, we implore everyone to take care to protect themselves during this time of rising temperatures and dangerous climate-related environmental threats."