ALEX Salmond last night dismissed as "laughable" the threat of an onslaught from American billionaire Donald Trump on Scotland's renewables industry.
The First Minister made his remarks as he responded for the first time to the tycoon's strongly worded announcement that he would finance an international campaign to fight the Government's renewable energy policy.
Mr Trump had also accused Mr Salmond of doing more damage to Scotland "than any event" in its history by encouraging wind farms, as the row continues over plans to site 11 off-shore turbines in the bay opposite Mr Trump's £750million golf resort north of Aberdeen.
Mr Trump said Scotland's leading politician was "hell bent on destroying Scotland's coastline and therefore, Scotland itself".
Mr Salmond's aides attempted to play down the letter as "typical Donald" describing him as someone prone to over-the-top outbursts. They also described the idea it would influence Mr Salmond's commitment to renewables as "laughable."
Labour's former UK energy minister, Brian Wilson, said he couldn't understand why Mr Trump was so exercised by the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) now.
Mr Wilson said it would not be a commercial wind farm, but a facility for developers and associated supply-chain companies to test new designs.
Mr Wilson said: "The project that Trump has taken so much against has been around, to my knowledge, for around a decade. So how on earth Trump got to this stage with his plans without being very well aware of exactly what was happening, is beyond me. The project was there long before he was."
Mr Trump had claimed he was mounting his attack over the £150m project in memory of his Hebridean mother.
But Lewis resident Mr Wilson said: "Trump discovered Scotland after nearly 60 years of ignoring it. I know for a fact that people from Lewis went to New York to try to raise funds for many charitable causes, on the back of his mother coming from Lewis. But they literally didn't get beyond the front door of Trump Towers."
Meanwhile, Trump Organisation representatives yesterday took part in a conference call with EOWDC. The wind farm consortium's spokesman David Rodger said: "No conclusions were reached but we trust there will be further dialogue."
However, Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, who opposes wind farms, revealed he had spoken to an angry Mr Trump in a phone call.
He said: "He was absolutely raving about the destruction to the Scottish countryside that is going to be perpetrated by literally thousands of wind turbines not only onshore, but we are going to have Scotland surrounded by them."
"He sees that Loch Lomond is going to have a huge wind farm on both sides. Loch Ness will have 150 giant turbines overlooking it.
"The Old Course at St Andrews will have huge wind turbines visible from it. The championship golf course at Turnberry will be able to see huge wind turbines. They will be behind Culzean Castle and near the Cairngorms National Park .
"We are destroying Scotland now. Marine Scotland [the Government directorate which manages Scotland's seas] has published a map which literally surrounds our coast."
Mr Trump's attack is understood to have been triggered by the Scottish Government's publication of a blueprint to streamline the planning process for offshore wind, wave and tidal projects.
But Jonathan Hughes director of conservation at the Scottish Wildlife Trust said politicians shouldn't have been surprised.
He added: "Bend the planning rules for a man like Donald Trump once and he'll expect you to do it everytime he asks."
Mr Hughes criticised politicians across the political spectrum, adding: "They were naive at best, and derelict in their duties at worst, when they forced through the extraordinary planning application for a needless golf course at Menie Links, thereby destroying a unique, protected coastal dune system and wrecking many local residents' lives."
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