Morrill Worcester, whose family founded Wreaths Across America, wants to build
the world’s largest flagpole
in Washington County, Maine, honoring all 24 million of our nation’s veterans with a massive American flag and memorial in time for America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. The project could bring a massive influx of steady jobs to a state that desperately needs them, but the nationwide plague of environmental activism is killing the project.
Maine has the
highest median age
in the country and has struggled to retain enough young people to fill existing jobs. A multitude of issues have hollowed out the state’s workforce and economy, especially in rural areas such as Washington County, where just last year,
almost half
of the young adults moved elsewhere due to the lack of stable employment opportunities. Jobs in the blueberry, logging, and lobster industries are not yearlong, and many Mainers must supplement their income through other means.
The problem goes beyond Washington County. “There just aren’t enough opportunities for someone my age … the ties of community are not sustained,” remarks James Erwin, 27, of Yarmouth, Maine, who currently lives in Washington, D.C.
Maine used to be home to a strong manufacturing base. The
Bates Mill
in Lewiston, which once produced dozens of textiles, closed in the early 1990s, while the
Great Northern Paper Mill
in Millinocket went under in 2008. The
Pixelle Mill
in Jay closed just this past January. Only
five
paper mills remain statewide.
Other traditional industries, such as lobstering, face threats from environmental groups
encouraging boycotts
of lobster and federal regulations that would close vast swathes of the Gulf of Maine to protect endangered white whales. Children of lobstermen usually learn the trade by working on their parent’s boats, but young adults from lobstering families have
started to doubt
they’ll be able to support themselves as their parents did. Many leave Maine to look for other opportunities.
Maine also depends heavily on tourism, with many resorts, restaurants, and other eateries in Bar Harbor and Kennebunkport staffed by
J-1 or H-2B visa holders
, alongside younger Mainers. For areas that cannot easily import their labor from overseas, businesses close, the local economy suffers, and young people leave.
All together, Maine is projected to lose
65,000 workers
by 2029 as the
last baby boomers retire
. A national memorial to our nation’s veterans would be a massive draw for the state and Washington County.
The $1 billion Flagpole of Freedom Park could be an economic lifeline for the state’s dwindling workforce. The projected
5,000 jobs and 6 million yearly visitors
the park is projected to bring in would be the
economic equivalent
of bringing back Bates Mill. The park is projected to add
7,350 jobs
in Washington County alone and more than $288 million in earnings from annual operation — enough to keep young people home and honor every veteran that has served our nation. Remarkably, the park’s price tag is being paid for overwhelmingly by
private donations
.
Despite the obvious economic opportunity the park represents,
administrative moratoriums
from environmental activists have halted the project.
Such environmental lawfare is choking economic growth in rural areas across the nation. For example, Lewiston, Maine, a city with an
18% poverty rate
, stood to gain more than
$350 million
and hundreds of jobs from the New England Clean Energy Connect project, an energy transmission corridor. Environmentalists have
successfully delayed
the project for years. This lawfare isn’t just confined to deep blue New England.
Similarly, community lawsuits in Marshall, Michigan, are blocking Ford’s plan to build a factory that could provide
2,500 jobs
. In Virginia and West Virginia, the latter of which has 10 counties with a
poverty rate of 20%
, the Mountain Valley Pipeline required an act of Congress to stop the lawsuits impeding its construction, only for them to
begin again this month
. Four-thousand jobs remain in legal limbo over activists’ sustained lawfare. Denying low-income Americans the economic lifelines their communities need is becoming a national trend.
Stable jobs are the key to bringing young workers back to rural areas where they can enjoy low costs of living and affordable housing prices. Washington County regularly contends for the
highest poverty and jobless rate
in our nation’s oldest state. Environmental activists cannot be allowed to determine the opportunities for the next generation in rural America.
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For America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, let’s celebrate our nation’s veterans while giving rural Maine the shot it needs to keep its kids home.
Roy Mathews is a writer for Young Voices.
