President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. The reported selection prompted outrage and condemnation among environmental groups. Exposés by InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times have revealed Exxon knew that fossil fuels cause global warming as early as the 1970s but hid that information from the public and instead poured millions of dollars into PR efforts aimed at sowing doubt over the science of climate change. Responding to the likely nomination, 350.org Executive Director May Boeve said, “ExxonMobil is still a leading funder of climate denial and is pursuing a business plan that will destroy our future. Tillerson deserves a federal investigation, not federal office.” Tillerson has spent the past 41 years at Exxon, where he became chair and chief executive more than a decade ago. He has no experience in government service nor in the diplomatic corps. Donald Trump praised Tillerson during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump: “He’s much more than a business executive. I mean, he’s a world-class player. He’s in charge of, I guess, the largest company in the world. He’s in charge of an oil company that’s pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor. It’s been a company that’s been unbelievably managed. And, to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company—not for himself, for the company.”

Tillerson is known to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who awarded him the country’s Order of Friendship decoration in 2013. Both Senate Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern over the potential nomination. This is Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Sen. John McCain: “It’s matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, and obviously they’ve done enormous deals together, that that would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat.”