JULY 27, 2022:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court has dismissed an appeal from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in her legal fight to hold a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore to celebrate Independence Day last year. She sued in an attempt to overturn the National Park Service’s denial of the state’s application to hold a fireworks display to celebrate the 2021 holiday. The Eighth Circuit of Appeals found that South Dakota’s objections to the Park Service’s decision were moot because it was in the past. The court also found the federal government was within its rights to deny the state from shooting off fireworks on federal land.
JULY 3, 2022:
On behalf of Governor Kristi Noem, the South Dakota Department of Tourism submitted (June 30, 2022) its application for a special use permit for the 2023 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration. The application was submitted to the National Park Service.
“As Americans all across our great country make preparations to celebrate their Independence Day, we have once again been denied the opportunity to celebrate at our nation’s enduring symbol of freedom, Mount Rushmore National Memorial,” said Noem. “But we will not be deterred. We have submitted a request for 2023 and will continue asking the Biden Administration to work with us to give the people the celebration they deserve.”
The Fireworks Celebration was returned to Mount Rushmore in 2020 after being canceled for more than a decade. In violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the NPS rejected permit applications for both the 2021 and 2022 celebrations.
The fireworks celebration would occur in conjunction with the Memorandum of Agreement signed on May 6, 2019, between the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Noem.
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