Judge dismisses South Dakota governor's lawsuit to bring July Fourth fireworks back to Mount Rushmore

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A federal judge won't force the National Forest Service to allow fireworks at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills for an Independence Day celebration.

U.S. District Court Judge Roberto Lange dismissed a lawsuit brought against President Joe Biden's administration by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem after the forest service blocked a fireworks display scheduled there for next month.

In a 36-page opinion Wednesday, Lange said that the forest service and the U.S. Department of Interior were justified in pulling the plug on a 2021 fireworks display because of environmental, tribal and health concerns and that the authorization South Dakota had received ahead of the 2020 display, which President Donald Trump attended, did not extend to 2021.

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"If the NFS had granted a special use permit to the State for fireworks at the Memorial for Independence Day weekend for 2021, this Court almost certainly would have denied a preliminary injunction to any group seeking to prohibit such a display from occurring," Lange wrote.

Noem responded to the decision by blaming President Joe Biden and called the forest service's decision "unlawful."

"The Biden Administration canceled South Dakota's Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration on completely arbitrary grounds," the governor said on Twitter. . 

Noem vowed to appeal the decision to the 8th Circuit Court.