President Donald Trump has certainly shaken up the highest branches of government with his cabinet appointments, but it is the actions of one of them that has truly astonished the scientific community. Scott Pruitt, the newly anointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said he didn’t believe there was a link between human activity and climate change, despite overwhelming scientific consensus that there is.

As a result, the phone number to Pruitt’s office has been deluged with phone calls from people angered by this claim. Calls soon went directly to voice mail, which quickly filled up and stopped accepting messages. Interns tried at first to answer some of the calls, according to a Washington Post report, but eventually were not able to handle the incoming volume.

It’s certainly a strange new reality in the Trump White House. Instead of barraging a lawmaker with phone calls over a policy proposal, now people are calling cabinet officials, which is certainly unusual. Pruitt’s comments have been widely condemned, but there’s no sign he intends to back down from them.

The White House says about energy policy on its website: “Sound energy policy begins with the recognition that we have vast untapped domestic energy reserves right here in America. The Trump Administration will embrace the shale oil and gas revolution to bring jobs and prosperity to millions of Americans. We must take advantage of the estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands that the American people own. We will use the revenues from energy production to rebuild our roads, schools, bridges and public infrastructure. Less expensive energy will be a big boost to American agriculture, as well.”