The smog has lifted from the financial ties between high-profile climate denier Christopher Horner and the coal industry. The now-bankrupt Alpha Natural Resources Inc., one of the largest coal companies in the country, paid Horner $18,600 in three equal installments, according to documents filed as part of the company’s bankruptcy case.

Horner, a lawyer involved with several nonprofits, including the libertarian think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute, has written books intended to debunk climate science, namely Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism. In public appearances, Horner has dismissed climate data and suggested that environmentalists are aligned with communists. Horner has also been accused of harassing climate scientists by flooding them with information requests.

Financial ties between Horner and the coal industry come as little surprise. In August, The Intercept reported the link.

If $18,600 seems like a bargain rate for espousing anti-science arguments that benefit the coal industry, The Intercept suggests that the payout could be one of several.

“The Alpha Natural Resources filing corroborates the suggestion in a recent email from chief executives of major coal firms that they are underwriting Horner’s current work. In early June this year, the Coal & Investment Leadership Forum, a trade show, sent this message to its email list: “As the ‘war on coal’ continues, I trust that the commitment we have made to support Chris Horner’s work will eventually create great awareness of the illegal tactics being employed to pass laws that are intended to destroy our industry.” The email was signed by Alliance Resource Partners’ Joe Craft III, Alpha Natural Resources’ Kevin Crutchfield, Drummond Company’s Gary Drummond, Arch Coal’s John Eaves and United Coal Co.’s Jim McGlothlin.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat quoted Michael Halpern of the Union of Concerned Scientists as saying: “We’ve known for years that Chris Horner and his front group have secretly been supported by companies that don’t want their names associated with attacking climate scientists.”

But, until the recent bankruptcy filing by Alpha, Halpern said that “the funding organization and individuals have been so opaque it’s been difficult to understand who is really behind it.”