“I’m afraid that our freedom to voice dissent is going to be taken away,” said one of the activists.

The consultancy, run by anti-BBC campaigner Rebecca Ryan, was listed on the website of a group whose founder calls climate change a “con”.

NW Natural offered free activity booklets that included games, puzzles, and cartoons that portray methane gas as clean and beneficial. Environmental groups call it propaganda.

A new report details the PR and lobbying blitz from fossil fuel companies in the early days of the Russian invasion that aimed at benefiting oil and gas interests, while offering little for the current crisis.