Wind Turbines: Environmental Damage and High Costs

Trump: And the other thing I say to Europe: we will not allow a single wind turbine to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re destroying the beauty of our landscape, our valleys, our beautiful plains. And I’m not talking about airplanes—I mean our beautiful plains, beautiful areas in America. You look up and see wind turbines everywhere. It’s horrible. It’s the most expensive form of energy. It doesn’t work. They’re made in China—almost all of them.

When they start rusting and rotting in eight years, you really can’t shut them off. You can’t bury them. They won’t let you bury the blades—you know, the propellers—because they’re made of a kind of fiber that doesn’t go well with the soil. That’s what they say. The environmentalists say you can’t bury them because the fiber is incompatible with the land. In other words, if you bury it, it will damage our soil. This whole thing is a scam. It’s extremely expensive.

And to be fair, Germany tried it—and wind energy doesn’t work. You need subsidies for wind energy, and energy shouldn’t need subsidies. Energy is supposed to make money, not lose it. But more importantly, it ruins the landscape. It kills birds. It makes noise. There’s a place in the Massachusetts area that had one or two stranded whales in the last 20 years, and in a recent period of time, they had 18. Right? Because it’s driving them crazy. It drives them crazy.

So wind turbines are not coming. It’s not going to happen in the United States. And they’re very expensive. Today, for example, I’m playing at the best course in the world—Turnberry. Even though it’s mine, it’s probably the best course in the world, right? And I look to the horizon and I see nine wind turbines. It’s like: great. In the end I said, isn’t that a shame? What a disgrace. It’s the same everywhere. All over Europe in particular, you’ve got wind turbines all over the place. Some countries are banning them, but people should know these wind turbines are very destructive.

They’re not green—quite the opposite. Because environmentalists aren’t really environmentalists. They’re political activists. These are people who almost seem like they want to hurt the country. But you look at these beautiful landscapes around the world—many countries have gotten smart. They won’t allow it. They won’t do it. It’s the worst form of energy—the most expensive form of energy. But wind turbines should not be allowed.