ALEX Salmond has told Donald Trump that the energy policy of Scotland should be left to the elected government.
The First Minister's intervention came as the US tycoon promised to mount a legal challenge to this week's decision to approve a controversial offshore wind farm near his golf resort in Aberdeenshire.
Mr Salmond warned Trump he will have to find a better reason than not liking offshore wind farms if he is to mount a legal appeal. The SNP leader warned his administration would continue to "vigorously defend" its energy policy.
He said Trump had taken a "strange position" that only the developments he approved of should get the go-ahead.
Mr Salmond added: "People are entitled to go to court. That is a matter for the Trump organisation.
"You have to find a reason for going to court. You can't go to court just because you don't like something, but nonetheless people are entitled to use their legal rights and the Scottish Government will defend it.
"We have just defended successfully a major action of people taking action against the Aberdeen Peripheral Route [which will bypass Aberdeen] which we thought was important to the development of the north-east of Scotland and we won that action."
Mr Salmond added that although he had been a long-term supporter of Trump's development on the Menie estate, it would be "ridiculous to argue that is the only development that should take place in Scotland".
He said: "While I'm a supporter of the golf development I really do think that the energy policy of the country should be left to the people who are elected by the people of Scotland."
The tycoon left the First Minister off the guest list for the launch of his golf course after they fell out over plans for the offshore wind farm.
Mr Salmond said: "Clearly I hear of him from time to time – who doesn't? But I don't actually think we're on speaking terms any more."
Trump has put his plans for the Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie Dunes, near Aberdeen, on hold until the development is stopped.
Businesses and environmental groups have welcomed the decision by ministers to give the go-ahead to the £230 million, 11-turbine European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), a joint venture between Vattenfall and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.
Mr Trump has since tweeted his continued determination to fight the plans.
Mr Trump said: "The Aberdeenshire coast is spectacular. It's historic value and wildlife will be tarnished if these wind turbines are built."
He added: "To all journalists, look into the financial dealings of Scottish Parliament members with Vattenfall - Follow the money."
George Sorial, executive vice-president and counsel for the Trump Organisation, predicted that the wind farm would never be built, and that generations of Scots will "curse" the First Minister for the "damage" turbines do to the country.
Mr Sorial said:"We look forward to presenting our case against the EOWDC proposal in court, an impartial forum that's free from the First Minister's meddling. Mr Salmond was dishonest about the EOWDC scheme and has misled us, and the public, many times in the past, so future discussions with him are pointless."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article