Ohio lawmakers fume over Obama's renaming of N. America's highest peak

Though still in their summer recess, Ohio lawmakers did not wait too long to voice their disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama who on Sunday decided to rename Alaska's Mount McKinley to its native name Denali.

Obama announced on Sunday he would use his executive authority to rename the North America's highest mountain peak after its Native American title Denali, or "the high one".

Though the move was mainly a symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives on the eve of his visit to Alaska, Obama waded into a decades-long feud between Ohio and Alaska that involves the legacy of former Republican President from Ohio William McKinley.

While Alaska lawmakers in the Congress welcomed the renaming, their colleagues from Ohio viewed the administration's decision with a frown.

"There is a reason President Mckinley's name has served atop the highest peak in North America for more than 100 years, and that is because it is a testament to his great legacy," House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, said in a statement Sunday night.

Echoing the same disappointment, Republican Senator from Ohio Rob Portman accused Obama of executive overreach.

"The naming of the mountain has been a topic of discussion in Congress for many years. This decision by the Administration is yet another example of the President going around Congress," said Portman in a statement.

Standing at 20,320 feet, the mountain has officially been called Mount McKinley for a century after a gold prospector on the Alaska Range first suggested in 1896 that the tallest peak on the continent should be named in honor of McKinley, who had just won the Republican presidential nomination, as a show of support.

Efforts to rename the mountain under its original native name Denali began in 1975 in Alaska. However, a bipartisan effort by Ohio's congressional delegation has repeatedly blocked Alaska's effort.

In 1980, a compromise was struck by lawmakers, in which the national park surrounding the mountain was named Denali National Park and Preserve while the mountain continued to be called Mount McKinley.

So far, it remained unclear whether Ohio lawmakers would launch a campaign to block the name change, but the idea of such a fight was apparently on at least one Ohio lawmaker's mind.

"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action," said a statement by Rep. Bob Gibbs, also from Ohio. Endit