Donald Trump told oil executives he “hates wind” and delivered repeated diatribes against renewable energy during a fund-raising dinner, according to the Washington Post.
The newspaper reported at length on the remarks of the president at the dinner last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, based on unnamed sources it claims have knowledge of what was said.
Trump promised the oil bosses he would attend to their agenda on "day one", it reported.
Trump is said to have focused attention on offshore wind, claiming turbines fail when exposed to saltwater and pledging to give priority to oil & gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The former and would-be future President’s views on wind power are well known and the industry has been the target of his invective for at least a decade.
However, his apparent willingness to make campaign promises based on outright hostility to the sector is likely to increasingly alarm investors as his run-off with incumbent Joe Biden approaches – assuming one of Trump’s many legal issues do not prevent him standing.
The fact that Trump's stance on wind is being debated on the pages of one of the US' highest-profile newspapers will not calm those nerves.
The Washington Post quoted a former energy official in the last Trump administration as saying: “If I were in the offshore wind industry, I would probably be pretty, pretty nervous.”
US offshore wind has been a focus of Biden’s energy policy, with a headline goal to install 30GW by 2030 and support for leasing programmes in federal waters.
However, the sector also made progress during Trump's last presidential term and will hope that his comments are more campaigning bluster than hard policy.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) this week flagged the potential for hostile winners in a string of elections around the world – including the US – to act as a drag on wind power growth.
The outcome of the US election could for instance lead to it taking an “isolationist approach to clean technology trade,” said GWEC.
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“I know windmills very much."
“If it doesn’t blow, you can forget about television for that night.”
"If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little statue for the poor birds."
“The windmills are driving the whales crazy."
"If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75% in value."
"They say the noise causes cancer."
“I never understood wind."
