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Rep. Joy Proposes Plan to Divide Maine into Two States

AUGUSTA – State Rep. Henry Joy submitted legislation today that would divide Maine into two states, one in the north and the other in the south. He says the action was sparked by the growing possibility that the so-called Maine North Woods nature preserve would become reality, forcing a massive relocation of population out of the region.

“The environmentalists have been working towards this for years,” said Rep. Joy (R-Crystal). “They plan to take 10 million acres in northern Maine and turn it over to the federal government. The land could not be used for any further development, and private property would be seized with no compensation. They don’t want anybody up there.”

Plans for the North Woods preserve were detailed today in a front page story in the Portland Press Herald. According to the article, a group called Keeping Maine’s Forests is close to a final plan for delivery to the federal government as early as this month.

“I’m sorry to say that the governor appears to be on board with this scheme,” Rep. Joy said. “Perhaps he doesn’t fully comprehend the scale of the transformation. Why would he be in favor of surrendering more than half of the state’s land? That’s why we need to split into two states – so the people of northern Maine can decide their own destiny. They don’t like being used as pawns in some giant environmental chess game.”

Under Rep. Joy’s plan, the state of Maine would encompass most of the northern, eastern and western counties – Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, Franklin, Penobscot, and parts of Washington, Hancock and Oxford. The newly created state of Northern Massachusetts would include the counties of York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and Kennebec. Hancock County would be split in half. Washington County would remain part of Maine except for a strip along the coast.

“Some people might think a bill to divide Maine into two states is a joke,” said Rep. Joy, now serving his eighth term in the Maine House. “It won’t seem very funny if the environmental extremists get their way, and we see a forced relocation of the population of northern Maine. That is exactly the plan of the 1992 Biodiversity Treaty, run by the United Nations. They want half of the United States to be returned to wilderness. Northern Maine would become part of the Northern Forest Bioregion, some 26 million acres of timberland running from northern New York to eastern Maine.

Before Rep. Joy’s proposal can proceed, it must be cleared by the Legislative Council, a 10-member group of legislative leaders.