Ebell, Climate Science Critics Hold Congressional Briefing

President-elect Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency transition team leader and others who reject mainstream climate science held a widely attended briefing on climate change for congressional staffers on Monday.

The Cooler Heads Coalition, which is led by Trump EPA transition team leader Myron Ebell, held the briefing in the hearing room for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The organization is a collection of groups focused on downplaying the potential impact of global warming. One of the member groups is the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where Ebell serves as director of the Center for Energy and Environment.

Ebell told reporters the event was organized by the Cooler Heads Coalition, rather than Trump’s transition team, but he declined to comment further.

Australian Sen. Malcolm Roberts and author and retired geography professor Timothy Ball also spoke, according to an invitation for the event shared by the EPW Committee.

Congressional staffers filled the hearing room and could be heard applauding periodically from outside. The event ran from noon to 1:30 p.m.

EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) is also a prominent critic of the science behind climate change but was not at the event. Trump chose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA last week.