Pollutocrat nonpareil Lee Raymond, CEO and chair of ExxonMobil, today announced his resignation, effective at the end of the year.

As chair and CEO of the world’s largest publicly traded oil company — and the most recalcitrant on climate issues — he consistently appalled green observers with his steadfast denial of any need to curb greenhouse-gas emissions or work toward the goal of U.S. energy independence.

From a 2002 interview with Raymond:

Q: Isn’t it time to join the scientific mainstream in countering the greenhouse effect?

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A: The mainstream of some so-called environmentalists or politically correct Europeans isn’t the mainstream of all scientists or the White House. The world has been a lot warmer than it is now and it didn’t have anything to do with carbon dioxide.

We’ll have a hard time replacing this most iconic of eco-villains. Even Bush admits that climate change is happening.