Trump Blasts Wind Turbines in EU Meeting: “They’re Killing Our Beautiful Scenery”
President Donald Trump has promised that not a single wind turbine will be built in the United States under his administration, slamming the green energy source for its inefficiency and environmental risks.
The president pointed out that the wind turbine market is dominated by one of America’s chief geopolitical adversaries, China, calling it a “con job.”
Trump stated:
“The other thing I say to Europe, we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains. It’s the most expensive form of energy. It’s no good. They’re made in China, almost all of them.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who met with Trump during the exchange, has supported wind energy and renewables despite Germany’s skyrocketing energy prices under its “Energiewende” transition plan.
“In all fairness, Germany tried it, and wind doesn’t work. You need subsidy for wind, and energy should not need subsidy. With energy you make money, you don’t lose money,” Trump added.
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The president appeared particularly aggravated about wind turbines after playing a round of golf at his Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland.
Trump mentioned that he was able to see a cluster of nine turbines from his course that ruined the scenic view.
“You have the same thing all over, all over Europe, in particular. You have windmills all over the place. Some of the countries prohibit it, but people ought to know that these windmills are very destructive. They’re environmentally unsound.”
Trump also criticized environmentalists pushing for widespread adoption of wind energy, calling them “hacks.”
The former president’s dislike of wind turbines dates back over a decade, when he engaged in a high-profile fight to block wind turbines from being erected offshore near another of his Scottish golf courses.
In 2011, Trump wrote a letter to then-Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, complaining about plans to install wind turbines. He called the project an “ugly cloud … hanging over the future of the great Scottish coastline.”
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