Amid Heat Wave, Senator Talks 'Global Cooling'

July 23, 2010 -- Back in February, when Washington D.C. was buried under record-breaking snowfall and the capital was paralyzed, the nation's chief climate change doubter made much of a small igloo down the street from the Capitol building as he took to the Senate floor to refute climate change.

Sen. Jim Inhofe has for years repeated his charge that climate change is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

He pointed to the apocalyptic-seeming snow storm in February as evidence of the deception.

"If, in fact, global warming is taking place, its kind of hard on a day like today and the last few days to be talking about global warming," Inhofe declared on the Senate floor, on that snowy February day. "I often say, where is it when you need it?"

Inhofe's grandchildren built the igloo down the street from the Capitol and the family attached a sign, which jokingly called it Al Gore's new home. On his website is his "Minority Report" on why he says climate change is a hoax.

The igloo, however, melted long ago. And the seasons changed. And now Washington is sweating under record heat. Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that, globally, 2010 is the hottest year on record since record-keeping began in 1880.

Inhofe was still not deterred when ABC's Jon Karl invited the Oklahoma Republican to talk about the issue outside the Capitol building, in 95-degree, humid July heat.