He added that Big Oil “openly supports the UN climate agenda and gives far more to climate activist causes than they ever gave to Heartland,” and claimed green groups’ funding was “shady.”

With Trump in the White House, groups like the Heartland Institute, the CO2 Coalition, and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)—a rightwing group that complains about “climate exaggeration” and which also co-sponsored the event—are enjoying unprecedented influence.

“Twenty years ago it would have been shocking…for the EPA administrator to take seriously a group of people whose positions are so patently at odds with all of the scientific evidence,” said Oreskes. “But essentially, climate deniers are in charge now.”