South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued a statement Tuesday condemning the National Park Service’s decision to deny a permit for fireworks at Mount Rushmore for the second time since President Joe Biden took office.
“Mount Rushmore is the best place in America to celebrate our nation’s birthday — I just wish President Biden could see that,” Noem said. “Last year, the President hypocritically held a fireworks celebration in Washington, D.C., while denying us our own event. This year, it looks like they are planning to do the same.”
Rushmore’s Independence Day celebrations typically last 26 days, occurring from June 15-July 10. Noem began the tradition back in 2020, after a 10-year hiatus. Former President Donald Trump famously made an appearance.
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Last year, NPS similarly denied a permit for fireworks at the memorial. Shortly before the event, on Mar 29, Mount Rushmore saw the largest wildfire in its recorded history. As a result, the whole park was closed for three days.
Noem is currently litigating the event’s 2021 cancellation in the United States Eighth Circuit. This week, the governor’s office reminded the court that there was a pending application for the 2022 event. Within 24 hours of the statement, NPS denied the permit.
Superintendent to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Michelle Wheatley wrote a letter Tuesday declaring that the event could not go on. The South Dakota Department of Tourism had submitted the request to host the event there back in September.
“Fireworks are viewed by multiple Tribes as an adverse effect to the traditional cultural landscape,” Wheatley wrote in the letter.
Other reasons behind the decision included the celebration’s potential to “cause injury or damage to park resources,” “unreasonably interfere with interpretive, visitor service, or other program activities,” “substantially impair the operation of public use facilities,” “present a clear and present danger to the public health and safety,” and “result in significant conflict with existing uses.”
Wheatley also recognized in the letter that a previous environmental assessment in 2020 found that a fireworks event had “no significant impact.” However, she claimed that “based on current conditions, the NPS has reached different conclusions this year as to the application of the regulatory criteria.”
No secondary environmental assessment on fireworks has been made since.
NPS did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on this point.
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“Many of the reasons presented for their denial have been previously addressed, indicating that these reasons are not in good faith,” Noem wrote. “We will move forward with our litigation and urge the court to help us come to a speedy resolution.”
