Donald Trump, Atlantic City's favorite adopted son, is in the news once again for a scathing criticism of Scotland's plan to build energy-producing wind turbines within view of his proposed luxury golf course. As most folks in the Atlantic City area know, Trump is no slouch when it comes to controversy or expressing his opinion. This time, though, he's going after another country.
Four years ago, Donald Trump contracted with Scotland's government to build a luxury golf course/resort 12 miles north of Aberdeen. The project was worth 750 million pounds or 1.2 billion dollars and backed by the local government with the idea that it would bring hundreds of jobs to the Aberdeenshire area.
Of course, all were not happy with this partnership even at that time. Environmentalists fought to save the sand dunes and natural resources of the area. They lost and the dunes became fairways. Take a look at the featured video clip to see the beauty of this area. (Continues below)
At that time, Trump was in full agreement with First Minister Alex Salmond. Today, the words are not so friendly.
The disagreement stems from a plan to build a wind farm off the coast of Scotland. The wind turbines will be 195 meters (640 feet) high and will be located 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) off the coast. According to Donald Trump, these wind turbines will be "horrendous."
Never one to mince words. . .
Trump tells Salmond in the ill-tempered letter: "With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than any event in Scottish history!"
He adds: "I will never be 'on board,' as you have stated I would be, with this insanity."
The tycoon warns Salmond that he will be using his wealth to fight his government's renewables policy.
"I have just authorized my staff to allocate a substantial amount of money to launch an international campaign to fight your plan to surround Scotland's coast with many thousands of wind turbines — it will be like looking through the bars of a prison and Scottish citizens will be like prisoners!"
Minister Salmond has not addressed himself to Trump's letter yet. However, Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, which represents the wind farm industry, reacted with anger to the intervention.
"Who is Donald Trump to tell Scotland what is good for our economy or environment?" Stuart said in a statement. "He completely over-blows the impact of the proposed wind farm and to be honest there are so many mistakes in this 'trumped up' nonsense that it's difficult to know where to begin."
So what do you think? Donald Trump owns the land for the proposed golf course and luxury development, but does that give him the right to dictate energy policy to another country? Do you think he's really interested in Scotland or just ensuring the view from his 18 holes? This Examiner feels that this story is far from over, so stay tuned. And please leave a comment.
SOURCE: msnbc.com
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