Myron Ebell is the director of energy and global warming policy at the conservative think tank, the Competitive Eneterprise Institute (CEI).
He is also the director of Freedom Action, a grassroots organization fighting for limited government. Freedom of Action was founded by CEI. One of its primary mandates is to generate support against new energy and environment policy. Ebell is also a board member of the Cooler Heads Coalition -- a group of think tanks working to dispel the "myths" of climate science and global warming.
Several publications have recognized Ebell's influence within the climate denial community. In 2010, the Financial Times called Ebell "one of America's most prominent climate-change skeptics. In 2009, the Business Insider's Green Sheet named him third in its list of the Ten Most-Respected Global Warming Skeptics. They noted that "Myron Ebell may be enemy #1 to the current climate change community." In 2001, the Clean Air Trust named Ebell its "clean air villain of the month." The role of climate villian is something Ebell appears to relish.
In 2002, Ebell aided Philip Cooney, Chief of Staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, in covering up the findings of a seminal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on climate change. The Bush administration subsequently asked for revisions to the report.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has received copious amounts of funding from oil companies over the years. Through 2005, CEI was gifted more than $2 million from ExxonMobil. And, between 1998 and 2009, charitable foundations run by the Koch brothers (owners of Koch Industries, Inc., America's largest private oil company) gave CEI more than $700,000.
In a 2006 interview with the BBC, Ebell admitted that this funding is very much attached to climate denial, saying Exxon would most likely pull its funding from the Institute if it changed its position on climate change.
