President Obama Lops Off Mt. McKinley

The new name of the tallest mountain in North America will be Denali.
Why would you replace the proud name of a POTUS with a carbon producing, environment destroying name of an SUV?

(Just kidding!)

I agree, who cares? If Colorado can decide to make weed legal, other states should have the right to name or rename anything in their own state.

Yep, when I was in Alaska, the residents called it Denali. And the President never actually visited Alaska.
Obama is facing protests this week while visiting Anchorage about his opening the Arctic to drilling. Win one, lose one?

I think it is funny that our first president who has openly said he used to get high all the time is doing the name changing to a mountain named "Denali" which means "The High One"....I guess he couldn't persuade them just to rename it Mt. Obama!

RenegadeCJ wrote: I guess he couldn't persuade them just to rename it Mt. Obama!

Since he's from Hawaii, maybe he's saving that name for Mauna Kea?

I was actually surprised the official name was not already Denali because that's the name I've heard for the last few decades. Well, looking it up it appears Denali was pretty much the official Alaska state name since 1975. And now the feds are finally catching up.

I've got no problem with the name, but I don't like the idea of just one person unilaterally changing the name, if that is what happened. Was the name change about to happen anyway or is this another example of Obama using his interpretation of executive privilege? The timing in regards to his Alaska trip does appear this may of been politics as usual. Humm, imagine what names a President Trump might come up with?

It seems to me the states should come up with their own names and if the feds want to get involved (well, they are already involved) then it should just be to oversee it and make sure the correct names are on the correct federal maps and documents.

Here is an article about what it takes to name mountains in Colorado...

www.cpr.org/news/story/how-colorados-mountains-are-named

Since Denali is in a federal park, it is appropriate for the federal government to make the change. The Alaska state legislature formally requested that the name be changed back in 1975 and applied to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names for the name change. However, the Ohio congressional delegation has prevented it from acting on the request. The Secretary of Interior does have the power to make name changes if the Board of Geographic Names does not act within a reasonable time in making a decision on a name change. Apparently, 40 years is considered not to be a reasonable time.

RenegadeCJ wrote: I think it is funny that our first president who has openly said he used to get high all the time is doing the name changing to a mountain named "Denali" which means "The High One"....I guess he couldn't persuade them just to rename it Mt. Obama!

Time for MJ smileys?

Obama fixed a mistake - it never should have been named McKinley in the first place.

McKinley was named by a gold miner who supported the his pro-gold stance, so it was political from the start.