Trump's suit to halt wind farm project to be heard in November

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A hearing on U.S. business mogul Donald Trump's complaint about an off-shore wind farm project in Scotland will begin Nov. 12, court officials said.

Trump wants to halt the 11-turbine project near his golf resort at Balmedie, challenging the Scottish government's decision to grant planning permission, the BBC reported Thursday.

The goal of European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre project near Aberdeen is to provide enough energy for more than 49,000 homes, officials said.

"Research has shown that Scotland could meet its climate and energy targets using clean renewables and energy efficiency," Lang Banks, WWF Scotland director, said in a release Thursday. "In the end, just like the Scottish Parliament's own inquiry, we hope the court sees through his bluff and bluster and agrees that giving the go-ahead to this development was the right decision.

Lang said thousands of jobs in Scotland already are supported by the wind power industry and the offshore project could create 28,000 jobs by 2020.

Lang said it was a shame that Trump was "hell-bent on using his billions to try and undermine Scotland's ambition of becoming a cleaner, greener, job-creating nation. He may be happy wasting his own money. But, defending his legal action is likely to cost the Scottish taxpayer, too."