Letters reveal Trump rants against Scottish offshore windfarm

Furious missives from golf magnate and US president-elect said wind power was useless and would ruin Scotland’s economy

(Pic: Vattenfall/Flickr)

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US president-elect Donald Trump told the former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond he was “mad” for supporting wind turbines in a series of heated letters from 2011-2013.

Trump’s acerbic remarks were revealed this week when 16 letters he sent to Salmond were published under a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Huffington Post.

The billionaire was incensed at plans to construct an offshore wind farm within sight of his Aberdeenshire golf course – last December he lost an appeal against the project.

“With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history,” he wrote in one letter.

In another he said the reason wind turbines were called “renewable” was that they would have to be replaced every five years due to corrosion – a claim not backed up by the industry which says 20 years is more common.

“I have never been on board, as you stated, with this insanity,” he writes in a 2012 missive where he reveals his intention to take legal action.

“I have just authorised 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 the Scottish citizens will be the prisoners!”

In response, Salmond wrote of his confidence that offshore wind would generate 28,000 jobs and £30 billion of investment.

“It is my belief that Scotland’s great cities and ports are ideally placed to become a key hub for the rapidly-growing multi-billion offshore renewables industry,” he said.

Earlier this year, Scotland’s wind turbines provided all the electricity the country needed on one day. The Scottish government has a target of generating 100% of electricity from renewables by 2020.

February 9, 2012 by Graeme Demianyk on Scribd

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