Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe’s tenuous grip on reality is no secret. When the Alfred E. Murrah building in his state’s largest city was bombed at 9:02 in the morning on April 19, 1995, Inhofe said on national television that there wouldn’t be many casualties because most government workers would be out drinking coffee at that time. He’s also said that President Obama is supporting enemies of the United States.

But much of his criticism is directed at those who say that climate change is real and is a danger to our planet. Inhofe is now the chairman of the Senate’s Environment Committee. He celebrated the first day of his second shot at this position by speaking for 13 minutes claiming that human-caused climate change is a fake concept. He’s even written a book entitled The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.

But when it suits his purposes (or those of his financial backers), Inhofe is apparently willing to allow climate change into his worldview. He wrote in a CNN op-ed (run on Earth Day, no less) that we need nuclear power to help fight climate change:

[T]he White House will celebrate Earth Day and promote its work to fend off climate change, while strategically ignoring its largest tool to cut carbon emissions—nuclear energy—as well as the warning of one of the administration’s favorite climate scientists.

Wait—climate change is a thing now? It gets better. The scientist to whom Inhofe is referring, James Hansen, previously was tagged by the senator as a “NASA scientist and alarmist.” Hansen has also championed a carbon fee on fuels such as oil, gas and coal that would be returned to consumers to pay for renewable energy. No word if Inhofe is also on board with this proposal.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

The Senate’s Top Climate Denier Redefines Chutzpah (by Joe Romm, Climate Progress)

Obama Should Embrace Nuclear Energy (by Sen. Jim Inhofe, CNN)

Oklahoma Legislators, Bowing to Big Business, Raise Rates for Small Producers of Solar and Wind Power (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

Which Members of Congress Receive Most Money from Oil Industry and Environmentalists? (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)