American tycoon Donald Trump urges Scottish lawmakers to reconsider plans to put a wind farm near his Aberdeen golf course, saying the green technology could destroy tourism. Deborah Gembara, Reuters.
TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Building wind farms will destroy the Scottish tourism industry --- this was the message from U.S. businessman Donald Trump to Scottish lawmakers.
DONALD TRUMP: "Wind turbines, made in China, are going to be the destruction, almost a total destruction, of your tourist industry."
REPORTER: The tycoon and TV personality opposes plans to put turbines just offshore from a golf course he is developing near Aberdeen. There were noisy demonstrations both for and against the plan outside the Scottish parliament. Scotland's first Minister Alex Salmond defended the green push, saying it was in Scotland's long-term interest.
ALEX SALMOND: "Just investing in Scotland doesn't mean you own the country. And, in particular, the energy policy of this country, so important for our future, that'll be set by the people and the parliament of the country, not by anybody else."
REPORTER: Tourism is a 6.4 billion dollar industry for Scotland and supporters of the wind farms pointed to a government survey suggesting that 80 percent of visitors would not be put off by wind farms. Deborah Gembara, Reuters.
COMMENT
This video demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling environmental interests with economic ones. I'll be going to Scotland at the end of next week for a short break—I won't be playing golf though!
LESSON IDEA
The story would be a good subject for a role play since there are so many competing interests (Trump's organization, golfers, local residents, wind farm supporters, Scottish government, tourist board, etc.).
