House Speaker John Boehner, with other members of the Ohio delegation, say the Obama administration’s renaming of Mt. McKinley in Alaska is likely illegal and is pressing the president for an explanation.
The speaker joined with more than a dozen of his fellow Republicans from the Buckeye state in a letter sent to President Obama on Wednesday challenging his decision to change the name of the highest peak in North America to Denali, as it has been long called by Alaskans and native tribes there.
Earlier this week the delegation blasted the president for defaming the name of the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, who hails from Ohio and served as governor there.
The letter says Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell disrespected McKinley’s legacy when she took unilateral action on Aug. 28 to change the mountain’s name to Denali. The change was made to coincide with President Obama’s trip to Alaska to address climate change on Aug. 31.
“This unilateral action is troubling to many Americans as this honor speaks volumes of respecting our nation’s heroes and their patriotic work to better our nation,” the letter reads. “It is also upsetting that William McKinley’s legacy has been tarnished by a political stunt to promote a partisan agenda.”
In doing so, Jewell “acted against the will of Congress” and the 1947 law, which “gave the secretary of the interior the ability to take action if the Board on Geographic Names does not act within a reasonable time.”
The letter asks the president to explain how the secretary “interpreted the need to make this change and what, if any, request to change the name of Mount McKinley were pending before the board?” The board acts with the secretary on actions regarding the naming of sites and monuments.
The letter asks which other monuments, memorial or parks has the administration acted unilaterally to change without congressional approval or input from the Board of Geographic Names.
The Interior Department says in a Sept. 1 primer on the Denali decision that Jewell acted within the authority granted her under the law, which gives her equal authority to the board.
“In view of the expressed will of the people of Alaska and in keeping with the principles of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Secretary Jewell has now taken action to rename Mount McKinley as Denali under the authority granted to her office by the law,” the agency says.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is from Alaska and is chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced legislation months ago to change the mountain’s name to Denali. At a June hearing on the name change, the National Park Service told the panel it would not object to a switch.
