Donald Trump denies climate change--but fears it could hurt his golf course
Donald Trump has said he doesn't believe in man-made climate change and has called global warming a "hoax," but he's trying to protect a golf course he owns on the coast of Ireland from its effects.
The presumptive GOP nominee applied for a permit to build a seawall next to Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland in County Clare to prevent erosion, according to Politico.
His application included an environmental impact statement that explicitly mentions "global warming and its effects." According to Politico's report, that statement says that rising sea levels in that region could accelerate erosion.
The statement cited a study by the Irish government predicting a steady rate of erosion through 2050, but the statement says that the study failed to take climate change into consideration.
"If the predictions of an increase in sea level rise as a result of global warming prove correct, however, it is likely that there will be a corresponding increase in coastal erosion rates not just in Doughmore Bay but around much of the coastline of Ireland. In our view, it could reasonably be expected that the rate of sea level rise might become twice of that presently occurring. ... As a result, we would expect the rate of dune recession to increase," the statement said, according to the report.
In March, Trump told The Washington Post, "I'm not a big believer in man-made climate change." He has also tweeted before about the Chinese creating global warming, which he has called a hoax.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee - I'm in Los Angeles and it's freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2013
Any and all weather events are used by the GLOBAL WARMING HOAXSTERS to justify higher taxes to save our planet! They don't believe it $$$$!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2014
On Monday morning, former Vice President Al Gore, who starred in the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," told NBC's "Today" that "[Trump] has said some things on the climate crisis that I think should concern everyone."