Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) slammed President Trump for saying noise from wind turbines can cause cancer, calling the remark “idiotic.”
During a call with reporters, Grassley, a Trump ally, had strong words regarding the president’s views on wind power, a cause Grassley has championed during his tenure in the Senate, according to the Des Moines Register.
“I’m told that the White House respects my views on a lot of issues,” Grassley said Wednesday during the call. “[Trump’s] comments on wind energy — not only as a president but when he was a candidate — were, first of all, idiotic, and it didn’t show much respect for Chuck Grassley as the grandfather of the wind energy tax credit.”
{mosads}Trump on Tuesday night took time during a speech at a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner to knock wind turbines.
“If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer,” he said.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s claim that noise from wind turbines can cause cancer.
Trump has voiced his disapproval of wind power before, most recently during a rally in Michigan last month when he knocked the renewable energy source and falsely claimed that if the wind “doesn’t blow, you can forget about television for that night.”
The Des Moines Register noted that Iowa is a national leader when it comes to wind energy. It was the first state to get more than 30 percent of its electricity through wind power.
After the phone call with reporters ended, Grassley reportedly sent out a press release touting his appeal for more federal wind energy funding, which has bipartisan support.