--- title: Senator Jim Inhofe: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denier description: When the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate, Oklahoma's James Inhofe—a global warming denier—becomes chair of the Environment Committee canonical: https://time.com/3618600/climate-change-senator-jim-inhofe/ author: Michael Lester article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T19:41:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:39:23.862Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe og:description: The climate denier in charge of the Senate Climate Committee og:url: https://time.com/3618600/climate-change-senator-jim-inhofe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3a171a1c3c1c689/69876cb70b72e3805f6dc5a6/inhofe-in-jail-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe twitter:description: The climate denier in charge of the Senate Climate Committee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3a171a1c3c1c689/69876cb70b72e3805f6dc5a6/inhofe-in-jail-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Science Cop Take on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe by [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Dec 4, 2014 7:41 PM UTC  Science Cop Jeffrey Kluger takes on climate change denying Senator James Inhofe Science Cop Jeffrey Kluger takes on climate change denying Senator James InhofeGetty, composite image by TIME by [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Dec 4, 2014 7:41 PM UTC You don’t have to be a general to be head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but if you don’t at least believe in the existence of a military, we’ve got a problem on our hands. The country is about to face something similar in January, when the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate and Oklahoma’s James Inhofe — Congress’s most vocal global warming denier — becomes chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Inhofe, who has called climate change “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” not only sniffs at what the overwhelming majority of climatologists know to be true, he actually tries to go toe to toe with them on the science. And that’s where he exposes how little he knows — and how wrong he is. 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