Scottish Gold Plating Makers Sweat: The Donald Halts Scotland Development Work In Protest

David Ross reports on this week's Trump Wind Farm National And Estates drama, with The Donald halting work on his already completed golf course and remaining development plans until the Scottish Government makes a decision on a nearby wind farm. One of the nearby land owners, David Milne, isn't buying The Donald's bluff.

"This is nothing more than another bluff and Scottish ministers should call it.

"After all, this is a golf course against an entire industry which is going to carry Scotland forward to the future, and an industry the Scottish Government is already very publicly committed to, in order to deliver long-term targets.

"The choice is simple – it is between the children of the country growing up to be bed-changers and grass-cutters or growing up with the opportunity to be engineers, designers, developers and builders, along with the slew of unskilled trades that all real industry brings with it.

Well at least he didn't say anything derogatory about sweater-folders.

Comments

[bonnie banks]

Sweater folders of the world unite!!
A derogatory comment from a journalist!!Wahtever next?

[D. maculata]

If Ted Kennedy and Robert Jr. coudn't win a nine-year battle with Greenpeace,the National Resources Defense Council and the Union of Concerned Scientist over the Cape Cod wind project, in the heart of a national tourist attraction, how does Trump think he has the muscle to stop this? Unless of course, a Scottish minister or two has his better half selecting home furnishings or he's listing a bit because he has a solid gold locker nameplate in their pocket.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Trump's prevaricating. Before any announcement was made on the future of this wind farm, he stated last year that the market for securing finance for the housing project just isn't there and it would seem (according to recent entries on here) that it has less to do with a world recession and more to do with a lessening of interest in the game.

He has a point though. I certainly wouldn't fork out half-million pounds for a house with a view of eleven wind turbines.

Unless he's got something in writing (for he was allegedly give assurances by First Minister, Alex Salmond, that there would be none) then he can go whistle.

If he wants to see any return on his investment then he will have to follow through with the golf course project but, of course, he's under no obligation to build an asylum ... sorry ... golf club to go with it. He could always do what Loch Lomond did at Dundonald and erect a portacabin. I wonder, could such a scenario present David Milne, whose home (overlooking the 18th fairway) is regularly targetted for insulting comments from the Trump camp, with an opportunity to wreak revenge by submitting a complaint about such a structure?!

[Adam Clayman]

Paint them blue, you'll never see'em.

[Press Agent]

Agree with C & C,
Last year very quietly, Trump announced that the housing / hotel etc, component of the project had been halted. I had not however heard that someone suggested it was because of "a lessening interest in the game", that is hogwash. Decisions to finance large scale housing developments are not made based on perceived interest in the game of golf, they are made based on forecasts of home / unit sales. The cost to build the golf course is peanuts compared to the cost to build out the rest of that project. It's one thing to have a golf course that attracts a limited amount of play running on a tight budget and squeaking by, it's another thing to build out a massive development with all the infrastructure and find that people simply can't afford to buy houses during the great depression # 2. Building the course and running from some temporary clubhouse of some kind is very doable, if trump built out that project and found sales lacking, it could bankrupt him.

As far as the turbines, I personally would have no problem at all buying a home with a view of an off-shore wind farm. I actually find them quite interesting and in Scandinavia I find that do not detract at all from shore edge property.

[fourputter]

In the North Sea they'd have to be painted grey to be invisible.

I never thought I'd say these words but in this instance Trump has my sympathy. Scotland is a tiny country and the wholesale erection of these hugely inefficient wind turbines is proceeding at great speed (before the Ponzi scheme that is the huge pay-outs to landowners (usually not Scottish) is twigged and stopped), besmirching the glorious scenery which is so important to Scotland's economy. The benefits of these monstrosities are illusionary, yet there's now hardly a part of that great country from which you can't see at least one of the buggers.

[Michael]

Inefficient wind turbines? Wait, is this still 2001?

[fourputter]

They are only efficient, in the energy producing sense, in a small range of wind speeds, and the whole existing energy structure has to be retained and maintained for when they're not producing - which is much of the time. In the financial sense, no-one even pretends that they are justifiable - at least in the Scottish context. Environmental "justifications" are given instead.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@fourputter: Maybe. But it also depends on how you account for costs, either legitimately or by ignoring externalities such as air, ground, and water pollution (including greenhouse gas emissions). An economist at World Bank event (IIRC) once said that since "agriculture" was a relatively small part of the overall economy as measured in GDP/financial terms*, we needn't concern ourselves too much with its health. To which an audience member was heard to ask, "What does this genius think we are going to eat?" I paraphrase, from a book by Herman Daly.

*1.2% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States)

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Press Agent ... I'm only commenting on what I've read on here and what has been suggested is that today's prospective homeowner in the US is not so keen to buy into a golf course attached scheme as was the previous generation.

In so far as the main project is concerned, isn't Trump's business modus operandi to, basically, bring in a bunch of investors to bankroll it? He does seem to be using his own money for the golf course project, though I daresay he'd be keen for some payback on the housing project to offset the cost of the golf course and asylum ... err, clubhouse.

As for the wind turbines, they will be sited just one and half miles from the shoreline. I can't see any investor wanting to risk their money on such a project with them being so close as that.

[D. maculata]

As for what Press Agent and KLG said, Deborah Donovan, head of the New England policy project at the Union of Concerned Scientists had this to say: "Wind power's ill effects don't stack up against its benefits and people are suffering from a not in my backyard mentality (that would be Kennedy, Cronkite, Audra Parker and last but not least, Mitt Romney). Society at some point has to accept that if we want electricity we have to get it from somewhere and wherever that is, it won't be zero impact."

[E]

I live in Germany. Those big "windmills" are everywhere and they are putting more of them up everyday. I like them. And guess what, when that black gold runs out, at least, I will still have energy produced by mother nature. Cheers for that. I will still have the internet to post and be able to rant about the small stuff. Perfect. I wish everyone could be a little more progressive with their thinking for the future. One day we will run out of fossil fuels. And, then, everyone will love those off-shore windmills. It works. C'mon people!

E.

[fourputter]

"Windmills" are too big a topic to get into here - not the right forum, anyway. I'm no supporter of the carbon industry, and the windmills are not a bad idea, in principle, and IF they are miles and miles away from civilization, over the horizon if at sea. But I was careful to point out that in the context of Scotland's environment, especially its size, these windmill farms are an environmental disaster, achieving nothing but the provision of some short term jobs. Please believe me, it's not just the NIMBY syndrome as someone claimed dismissively - you seriously do not want to live anywhere near one of these farms.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Wave technology is also being developed in Scotland. Technically a more difficult challenge but we seem to have the right kind of sea conditions (including tidal lochs) to make this work and of course, it's easier on the eye. One of the problems with this technology though is how to avoid killing the fish!

[E]

@fourputter

One last rant. If those big north sea oil rigs were right at the doorstep of Scotland's shores, you would want to get rid of them also. Right?! I don't care about that and if there is an "eyesore" somewhere nearby for you. I would rather have a "windmill" producing energy, than an oil rig that might blow at anytime and disgrace those favorite shores of Scotland. I wish our planet would start thinking bigger, and especially what will be possible in the future.

E.

[johnnnycz]

Fossil Fuels are never, ever, ever, ever, going to run out. As a wise oilman once told me "John...we've been running out of oil since we drained it from whales!"

Why would any business tell it's customer base that the cupboard will always be full??? Wind farms are a scam and a tax grab for the "green-revolutionaries" who actually believe humans are a virus and can affect the climate...we can't! Mother earth could shrug it's shoulders and flick off all of humanity in a few days.

Some reading about how plentiful oil really is can be found by googling "Bakan Oil Field" or "Gull Island" or...my favorite..."Russia deep-well abiotic"

OOPS, wrong meeting...jumping off the soapbox right now.

[Bardolinks]

I don't expect to ever play Trump's course - it's for the very well-heeled tourist. This year I'll be in Fife and Edinburgh for a month and even the old second-tier classics like North Berwick, Gullane #1 and Elie will be unaffordable for this visitor, never mind the Old Course, Carnoustie and Muirfield. Why should I care about the Don's troubles?

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Wind turbines are also noisy.