ABERDEEN, Scotland - Donald Trump argued his case Tuesday for the construction of a $2 billion golf resort on a stretch of coast in northeast Scotland after months of acrimony between the billionaire developer and local residents.

The brash American known for his New York developments and for his television show, “The Apprentice,” was in a bullish mood as he batted back environmental concerns from a panel of planners and environmentalists’ lawyers in a public inquiry in Aberdeen.

“The Donald,” as he is sometimes called, told the inquiry that his golf course will be the greatest in the world — better than the Royal & Ancient at St. Andrews, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Troon, all in Scotland; and better than Pine Valley in New Jersey, which he called the best course in the world.

“People won’t play a course if it is environmentally harmful,” Trump said. “They don’t like it, they don’t feel good about it and they won’t play it.”

He wants to build the course at the Menie Estate, 12 miles north of the oil town of Aberdeen. The development has divided political opinion in Scotland and embroiled Scotland’s first minister in a dispute about overstepping his jurisdiction in planning law.

The plans to create a course on a legally protected site of scientific interest have been met with opposition from local environmentalists and a landowner who steadfastly refuses to sell his property. Local fisherman Michael Forbes became famous after he refused the Trump Organization’s offer of $690,000 to sell his family’s run-down farm in the center of the estate.

The proposals for two golf courses, 900 timeshare apartments, a 450-bed hotel and 500 luxury homes were narrowly rejected by the Aberdeenshire Council late last year after local residents and conservationists said one course should not be built on the Foveran Links, a stretch of shifting sand dunes that are home to some of the country’s rarest wildlife, including skylarks, kittiwakes, badgers and otters.

But local business leaders, tourism agencies and Scotland’s nationalist First Minister Alex Salmond approve of the development, which could bring much needed jobs and money to the area.

Trump used Tuesday’s hearing to make a last-ditch appeal to push through the golf complex. The panel will meet until early July, and draw up a conclusion at some point after that.

David Tildsley, representing the Scottish Wildlife Trust, told the billionaire that he had ignored his own consultants on environmental issues.

Under cross-examination by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Trump drew snickers from the audience when he said he knew more about the environment than his consultants did. He acknowledged he had not read environmental reports that he commissioned.

“I would consider myself an environmentalist in the true sense of the word,” Trump said.

Trump said that the moveable sand dunes would benefit from having a golf course on them as they will be stabilized and would not be blown away in a storm.

Trump was expected to play on his Scottish roots as he faced the panel of three senior planning officials appointed by Salmond’s government and lawyers representing environmental agencies.

On Monday he visited his mother’s childhood home on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides and after touring the humble house in Stornoway he told journalists: “If it weren’t for my mother would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes. Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn’t have started it.”

Trump seemed cheerful despite the grueling session.

“I think it’s going well, what do you think?” he told The Associated Press after the morning hearing. “I think we’re swaying them.”

Mark Burnett has some advice for how to fix the Academy Awards:

“The Oscars, I think, could certainly be shorter.  The show seems very long,” notes the ultra-successful and influential producer.  “I think it would be really appropriate to include some of these big comedies and action blockbusters in the running,” he adds.  The Oscars “air on the broadcast networks – the key word is broadcast.  You know, as much as I enjoyed ‘La Vie en Rose,’ I don’t know that a big portion of the audience saw that movie to say whether or not it deserved to be honored.”

Burnett is producing this Sunday’s (6/1) 2008 MTV Movie Awards — the second time he’s taken on producing the show.  This year’s edition has Mike Myers hosting, Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls among the performers, and a new Best Summer Movie So Far category being voted on ‘til the last minute.  It promises to be a blockbuster event.

Last year’s MTV Movie Awards saw a ratings increase of 9 per cent over 2006. On the other hand, the many times larger Oscar show saw its worst ratings decline yet this past February — 14 per cent lower than the previously least-watched Oscars.

“From a relevance point of view, the MTV Movie Awards are a perfect way to do an awards show that celebrates movies,” says Burnett. “They’re a lot of fun and very, very relevant.”

Burnett, a.k.a. the reality TV king whose shows range from “Survivor” to “The Apprentice” to “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader,” points out that transforming the MTV Movie Awards into a live show last year “has given it a whole new sense of energy.  There’s a reason to tune in and see it live.”

WOMAN ON THE MOVE: “It’s a big summer for me, but I just got my first house so I need a big summer,” says Haylie Duff, who’s working hard for those house payments.  ”I’m doing a movie in Vancouver called ‘Deep Cove’ that I get to film on big boats and in the woods.  Then I’m doing a movie called ‘Slightly Single in L.A.’ It’s kind of a funny twist on women in their twenties who are dating in Los Angeles,” she tells us.  ”I think guys get a bad rap for being able to walk away from relationships and we don’t always get to see that women are the same way.”

In the meantime, Duff is anticipating the June 2 premiere of “Legally Blonde: The Search for the New Elle Woods.”  ”I look at those girls as my peers.  I’m constantly auditioning for things so I felt like an equal to them more than I did somebody that was going to be judging them or eliminating them,” says Duff of hosting the new MTV reality series.  ”I got to be there when they were upset and tell them I’ve been through all the same things they are feeling and it does get better, and there’s a huge payoff at the end.”

Duff can then be seen June 8 in the Spike TV movie, “Backwoods,” about a group of colleagues, who set out for a company retreat in the woods, only to find themselves being hunted.  ”It was a great experience for me because I got to play a girl that went from being quite vulnerable in her life, to being really strong and empowered.”

WEDDING TRIBUTE: Emmy Award winning (“Win Ben Stein’s Money”) TV personality Teresa Strasser’s  Vegas wedding at the Venetian next month (Iune) to Daniel Wachinski promises to be a time of rejoicing - and healing. The former host of TLC’s “While You Were Out” and current sidekick on The Adam Carolla radio show is wearing the gown of her fiance’s deceased sister. The sister, Lynn, and her new husband were killed in a car accident 10 year ago, leaving a devastated family. Knowing how much her future husband idolized his big sister, Strasser committed to wearing the wedding gown sight unseen. It turned out to be Kismet. The current co-host of the TV Guide Network’s weekly pop-culture roundup, “TV Watercooler” discovered the dress to be a beautiful, classic Vera Wang gown — that fits perfectly.

PLANET PLEASING: Rob Morrow and Fisher Stevens are collaborating on a pilot presentation for NBC called “Green Team” – about a self-made billionaire who decides to turn his life around after a terrible health scare, and goes from being a big-time ecological offender to going Green. Stylistically, they’re tying for a not-so –scripted approach ala “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Stevens and Morrow are exec producing and Morrow directing the presentation.