Trump International named only top Scottish course to violate environmental standards
The Aberdeenshire resort owned by Donald Trump is the only one among Scotland’s top golf venues confirmed to have broken environmental rules in recent years, according to The Ferret.
Trump International on the Menie estate in the northeast boasts its “first class” approach to the environment and described a second 18-hole course built there last year as “one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable” ever.
However, records obtained by The Ferret show it is the only one of Scotland’s top courses that the green watchdog confirmed breached its environmental license over the last three years.
As part of our ‘Green Drive’ series, which examines golf’s impact on the environment, we submitted freedom of information requests to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) seeking the environmental records of 25 of the country’s top-rated courses.
Sampling by Sepa at Trump International – which houses two courses as well as a luxury hotel and bars – found it was not compliant with its license on four occasions in 2024 and twice in 2025.
All six incidents related to discharges of wastewater from a private sewage system connected to the clubhouse.
There is no evidence that any of them caused environmental harm. Sepa said last year that while it expected “better performance,” it considered the actual environmental impact of the incidents to be “minimal.”
None of the other courses examined – including iconic venues like St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, and Gleneagles – were found by Sepa to have breached their licenses during the same period.
Critics said the findings were “par for the course” for Trump and that a “billionaire-owned luxury resort for the affluent” should be taking “better care of its effluents.”
“Trump is a notorious cheat when playing golf, so Sepa must ensure his courses in Scotland are not allowed to cheat the rules when it comes to protecting the environment,” one added.
Trump International said it would be “categorically wrong” to suggest that the wastewater system was causing environmental damage and accused Sepa of insisting on a “particularly intense level of monitoring” at the site.
It pointed out that the license for the sewage system had been repeatedly renewed by the regulator since 2013.
Sepa said last year that while it expected “better performance,” it considered the actual environmental impact of the incidents to be “minimal.”
The US president’s flagship Scottish golf development in Aberdeenshire has long been controversial, with its environmental impact facing significant scrutiny both before and after the first course opened in 2012.
It was built on a four-thousand-year-old sand dune system at Menie, which had been a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) and was considered of “exceptional importance” for a “wide variety of coastal landforms and processes.” The dunes were also home to rare plants and animals.
The site lost its SSSI status in 2020 after wildlife agency NatureScot determined that the dunes had been altered to the extent that they no longer included “enough of the special natural features for which they were designated.”
Last year, we revealed that the course had caused further damage to dunes after pumping water onto them during heavy rain.
Trump visited Scotland last year to open a second course at the complex – the ‘MacLeod course,’ named after his Scottish-born mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
Trump International said in 2024 that the new course would be “one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable courses" ever built. That claim was dismissed as “laughable” by one expert, given the “severe and irreparable” damage caused to the dunes during the building of the first course.
Five of the breaches of the resort’s environmental license since 2024 were reported by investigative outlet Unearthed last year. The Ferret has uncovered a sixth breach in the second half of 2025.
Sepa records show that most of the breaches involved samples of wastewater from the private wastewater system, which showed levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) above permitted limits. BOD is an indicator of how much organic material, potentially including sewage, is present in water.
As organic material breaks down, it uses up oxygen, leaving less available for fish and other aquatic life.
Five of the incidents in 2024 and 2025 were linked to high BOD levels. Four were classed as “lower tier” exceedances, while one – in August 2024 – was recorded as an “upper tier” breach, which could potentially pose a higher risk to the environment.
Sampling that month also recorded an upper tier breach for suspended solids in wastewater discharges – a measure of particles in the water. High levels of suspended solids can cloud water, blocking light needed by plants for photosynthesis and potentially damaging the gills of fish.
Sepa said in response to Unearthed last year: “The treated effluent passes through a soakaway system after the sampling point, providing further natural filtration before entering the ground. The soakaway significantly reduces the risk of the effluent impacting the environment.”
Trump International was also found to be non-compliant nine times back in 2019, with the incidents also related to wastewater sampling.
Assessments of the resort’s compliance with its license are unavailable for 2020, 2021, and 2022 when a criminal cyber attack on Sepa limited the amount of sampling the regulator could carry out.
In 2023, all samples taken at the course were compliant.
The Scottish Greens MSP for the northeast of Scotland, Maggie Chapman, claimed the breaches showed a “familiar pattern of disregard” for the environment and called for Sepa to ensure there are “real consequences for persistent non-compliance.”
World Affairs Correspondent
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
