Washington (CNN) An Interior Department official pushed misleading information about climate change into the agency's reports, according to The New York Times, at a time when the Trump administration has rolled back environmental protection regulations and repeatedly downplayed the effects of the climate crisis.

Citing emails and documents from the department, the paper reported Monday that Indur M. Goklany, who was promoted to the office of the deputy secretary and tasked with reviewing climate policies in 2017, pushed misleading language in at least nine reports on environmental studies. The misleading information was also included in studies and statements about watersheds in Klamath and Upper Deschutes river basins in California and Oregon, the paper reported.

The paper also reported "Goks uncertainty language," as it was referred to internally and drawn from the official's nickname, inaccurately claimed there was disagreement among scientists about the earth warming.

Goklany also told scientists that climate science "may be overestimating the rate of global warming, for whatever reason," the paper reported, citing emails from 2017. He also directed scientists to say rising carbon dioxide is beneficial because it "may increase plant water use efficiency" and "lengthen the agricultural growing season," the paper reported.

Interior spokesman Connor Swanson called the report "misleading, beginning with the headline."

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