Supreme Court Settles the Issue: Shipyard Is in
Maine, Not New Hampshire
By Ann S. Kim
Associated Press
Writer
KITTERY, Maine (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court
settled a long and bitter debate between two states Tuesday, ruling that
the
201-year-old Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is in Maine, not New Hampshire.
Eight members of the court unanimously rejected
New Hampshire's claim to the shipyard, which is on a 297-acre island in
the
Piscataqua River, which divides the two New England neighbors.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the ruling
marked the third time the border had been decided. The other times were
in
1977 by the Supreme Court and in 1740 by King George II.
"Three strikes and you're out," she said. "Maine
and New Hampshire should not approach the bench on this matter
again."
At stake was $4 million to $6 million in annual
income taxes that Maine collects from 1,300 New Hampshire residents who
work
at the yard. In New Hampshire, which has no personal income tax, officials
panned the decision.
"There is abundant historical evidence that
Portsmouth Harbor and its islands, including the islands that are now home
to
the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, are part of New Hampshire," Gov. Jeanne Shaheen
said.
Maine has long claimed the border was the middle
of the Piscataqua River, putting the shipyard squarely in Maine.
New
Hampshire contended the border was the Maine shoreline of the river,
putting it in New Hampshire.
The court relied on a 1977 Supreme Court consent
decree that settled a lobster fishing dispute between the two
states.
"New Hampshire's claim that the Piscataqua River
boundary runs along the Maine shore is clearly inconsistent with
its
interpretation of the words 'middle of the river' during the 1970s
litigation," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote for the
court.
Justice David Souter did not participate in the
decision. Souter was New Hampshire's attorney general in the mid-1970s
and
endorsed the 1977 settlement.
Maine's income tax is especially galling for
married workers from New Hampshire. They pay higher Maine income taxes
if
their spouses work, even if the spouse does not work in Maine. That's
because Maine's graduated income tax is based
on family income, not
individual income.
"Let me put it this way: we're being robbed,"
said Victor McLean, a shipfitter from Newington, N.H. "The wife gets
nailed.
And it's legal."