The Alaska Senate unanimously joined the state House Friday in urging President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to rename North America’s tallest peak as Mount McKinley.
Trump issued the order renaming Denali after President William McKinley on his first day back in office, saying he was a “natural businessman” who “made our country very rich through tariffs.”
The decision created an uproar around the state. A public opinion poll found Alaskans opposed the change by a two-to-one margin. Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, said Denali is a name with deep roots in Alaska’s history and culture.
"Alaskans and travelers from around the world have known it to be Denali. The Athabascan people have lived in the Interior for thousands of years, and for thousands of years have embraced Denali as its proper name," he said.
The state of Alaska has called the peak Denali for decades, a word that comes from a Koyukon Athabascan word with a meaning akin to "high" or "tall." The state renamed the peak as Denali on state maps and databases in 1975 and formally requested that the federal government do the same. The congressional delegation from McKinley’s home state of Ohio successfully blocked the change until 2015, when the Obama administration formally renamed it Denali.
Some state House minority Republicans opposed the resolution last month and looked to amend it to include a message thanking the Trump administration for another order seeking to expand resource development in Alaska. But there was no such opposition in the Senate.
"I think in the spirit of it, I want to honor what the people of Alaska want in this case," said Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, R-Wasilla. "To those in D.C. that seem to be looking to change certain things — that's fine, but let's pick something that would be a reasonable thing that would not upset the people of Alaska."
The resolution passed by a combined vote of 50 to 8. It’ll be sent to Trump, Alaska’s congressional delegation, the Interior Secretary and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
