Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and his department’s communications staff on Thursday boosted an opinion piece praising Perry’s apparent ignorance of the scientific consensus that carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of climate change.

The Energy Department’s press staff first tweeted a link to the column published in the Hill, which Perry then retweeted from his own account.

In the fight between @SecretaryPerry and climate scientists — He’s winning https://t.co/JKx8gwD9BR — DOE Press Staff (@EnergyPressSec) July 27, 2017

In the editorial, Canadian economist Ross McKitrick — who does not appear to have advanced degrees in any scientific fields and was the subject of a column titled “Is climate disinformer Ross McKitrick dishonest or dumb?” — praised Perry for giving a “cautious response to an awkward question.”

Asked on CNBC whether he believed carbon dioxide emissions were the primary driving force behind global temperature and climate changes, Perry replied, “No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.”

“This idea that science is just absolutely settled and if you don’t believe it’s settled then somehow you’re another neanderthal, that is so inappropriate from my perspective,” he added.

Perry’s response was at odds with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s conclusion on the subject.