“The Koch brothers gave the money that founded [the Tea Party],” he said. “It’s like they put the seeds in the ground. Then the rainstorm comes, and the frogs come out of the mud — and they’re our candidates.”

Koch Industries appears to be particularly attuned to global warming laws that could hurt its bottom line. The company was one of the first oil firms to lobby directly against a national low carbon fuel standard in 2007, filing records that state: “Oppose restraints on production and use of energy.”

Koch Industries wields considerable influence in this new political environment, especially on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, where it contributed $279,500 to 22 of the panel’s 31 Republicans, the largest donation of any oil and gas player.

They called the EPA’s plans to reduce America’s carbon emissions “an unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs — unless Congress steps in.” Last week, Democrats on the energy panel introduced amendments that would have forced their Republican colleagues to acknowledge that global warming poses major environmental threats. All 31 Republican members declined to vote in favor of the amendments, claiming instead that the science around climate change “is not settled.”

In the meantime, the Koch brothers hope to consolidate political control not just over Congress, but the White House too. Watch for their hand in the next presidential election, where the Kochs plan to raise $88 million to advance a conservative agenda.