\n As part of our \u201cGreen Drive\u201d \u00adseries, examining golf\u2019s impact on the \u00adenvironment, we \u00adsubmitted \u00adFreedom of Information \u00adrequests to the \u00adScottish Environment<\/a> \u00adProtection Agency (Sepa) seeking the \u00adenvironmental \u00adrecords of 25 of the country\u2019s top-rated courses.\n<\/p>\n \n Sampling by Sepa at Trump \u00adInternational \u2013 which is home to two courses as well as a luxury hotel and bars \u2013 found it was not compliant with its licence on four occasions in 2024 and twice in 2025.\n<\/p>\n \n All six incidents relate 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 \u201cbetter performance\u201d, it considered the actual environmental impact of the incidents to be \u201cminimal\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n None of the other courses \u00adexamined \u2013 including iconic venues like St \u00adAndrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield and Gleneagles \u2013 were found by Sepa to have breached their own licences over the same period.\n<\/p>\n \n Critics said the findings were \u201cpar for the course\u201d for Trump and that a \u201cbillionaire-owned luxury resort for the affluent\u201d should be taking \u201cbetter care of its effluents\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTrump is a notorious cheat when playing golf, so Sepa must make sure his courses in Scotland are not \u00adallowed to cheat the rules when it comes to protecting the \u00adenvironment,\u201d one added.\n<\/p>\n \n Trump International said it would be \u201ccategorically wrong\u201d to \u00adsuggest that the wastewater \u00adsystem was \u00adcausing environmental \u00addamage and accused Sepa of \u00adinsisting on a \u00ad\u201cparticularly intense level of \u00admonitoring\u201d at the site.\n<\/p>\n \n It pointed out that the licence for the sewage system had been \u00adrepeatedly renewed by the regulator since 2013.\n<\/p>\n \n The US president\u2019s flagship \u00adScottish golf development in Aberdeenshire has long been controversial, with its environmental impact facing \u00adsignificant scrutiny both before and after the first course opened in 2012.\n<\/p>\n \n It was built on a 4000-year-old sand dune system at Menie, which had been a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) and was considered of \u201cexceptional importance\u201d for a \u201cwide variety of coastal landforms and \u00adprocesses\u201d. The dunes were also home to rare plants and animals.\n<\/p>\n \n The site lost its SSSI status in 2020 after wildlife agency NatureScot \u00addetermined that the dunes had been altered to the extent that they no \u00adlonger included \u201cenough of the \u00adspecial natural features for which they were designated\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n Last year, we revealed that the course had caused further damage to dunes after pumping water onto them during heavy rain.\n<\/p>\n \n Trump visited Scotland last year to open a second course at the \u00adcomplex \u2013 the \u201cMacLeod course\u201d, which is named after his Scottish-born mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.\n<\/p>\n \n Trump International said in 2024 that the new course would be \u201cone of the most environmentally \u00adfriendly and sustainable courses\u201d ever built. That claim was dismissed as \u00ad\u201claughable\u201d by one expert, given the \u201csevere and irreparable\u201d \u00addamage caused to the dunes during the \u00adbuilding of the first course.\n<\/p>\n \n Five of the breaches of the resort\u2019s environmental licence since 2024 were reported by investigative \u00adoutlet Unearthed last year. The Ferret has uncovered a sixth breach in the \u00adsecond half of 2025.\n<\/p>\n \n Sepa records show that most of the breaches involved samples of \u00adwastewater from the private \u00adwastewater system, which showed levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) above permitted limits. BOD is an indicator of how much \u00adorganic material, potentially including \u00adsewage, is present in water.\n<\/p>\n \n As organic material breaks down, it uses up oxygen, leaving less available for fish and other aquatic life.\n<\/p>\n \n Five of the incidents in 2024 and 2025 were linked to high BOD \u00adlevels. Four were classed as \u201clower tier\u201d exceedances, while one \u2013 in August 2024 \u2013 was recorded as an \u201cupper-tier\u201d breach, which could potentially pose a higher risk to the environment.\n<\/p>\n \n Sampling that month also recorded an upper-tier breach for suspended solids in wastewater discharges \u2013 a measure of particles in the water. High levels of suspended solids can cloud water, blocking light needed by plants for photosynthesis and \u00adpotentially damaging the gills of fish.\n<\/p>\n \n Sepa said in response to Unearthed last year: \u201cThe treated effluent passes through a soakaway system after the sampling point, providing further natural filtration before entering the ground. The soakaway \u00adsignificantly reduces the risk of the effluent \u00adimpacting the environment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Trump International was also found to be non-compliant nine times back in 2019, with the incidents also related to wastewater sampling.\n<\/p>\n \n Assessments of the resort\u2019s \u00adcompliance with its licence are \u00adunavailable for 2020, 2021 and 2022 when a criminal cyber attack on Sepa limited the amount of sampling the regulator could carry out.\n<\/p>\n \n In 2023, all samples taken at the course were compliant.\n<\/p>\n