Fairbanks International Airport already has a good name. Keep it.

The federal building in Fairbanks is named for the late Rep. Don Young, who was a federal employee for a half-century.

In addition to the Don Young Federal Office Building, the 2,598-foot volcanic peak in the Aleutians formerly known as Mt. Cerberus is now “Mount Young” in his honor. And the Jobs Corps Center in Palmer is the Don Young Job Corps Center, all names created through the federal law signed by President Biden called the “Don Young Recognition Act.”

The imagined bridge that may or may not be built over Knik Arm was christened “Don Young’s Way” in federal law nearly two decades ago.

"The Knik Arm bridge in Alaska to be planned, designed, and constructed pursuant to section 117 of title 23, United States Code, as high priority project number 2465 under section 1702 of this Act, is designated as Don Young's Way,” according to the 2005 federal highway bill.

Don Young’s Way exists in name only, but the Anchorage assembly recently named the Anchorage port the Don Young Port of Alaska.

Two decades ago, some local Republicans said that putting Don Young’s name on the Fairbanks airport might be a good way to get more federal money for Fairbanks. The "whereas" clauses in the resolution mentioned various achievements of Young in Congress, that his favorite book as child was Jack London's "Call of the Wild" and that he was the only licensed mariner in Congress. The assembly rejected that proposal. It rejected a similar proposal after Young’s death.

In 2005, the state had a draft policy saying that airport names should always start with the name of the community so that people know where it is.

There is a bill in Congress to name the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure’s hearing room the Chairman Don Young Hearing Room. The state House approved a bill in 2022 to name a proposed Sterling Highway bridge the Congressman Don Young Bridge, but it stalled in the Senate.

A year ago the governor and Legislature declared that every June 9th is to be celebrated as Don Young Day with “suitable observances and exercises by civil groups and the public.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who doesn’t want people to focus on his proposal for a $1 billion deficit, wants the state to put Young’s name on the Fairbanks airport. This is one of many things Duneavy is doing as a distraction instead of proposing solutions to his unsustainable budget.

Fairbanks International Airport already has a good name that has stood the test of time. It doesn’t need a new one.

The original Fairbanks airport was Weeks Field, part of which included the area where the Noel Wien Library is today. The Arctic Bowl building was famously once an airplane hangar.

As airplanes grew in power and size in the 1940s. replacing Weeks Field with a new airport was a top local priority.

In 1948, before the airport was built, the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce unanimously approved a resolution saying it should be named after Hjalmar Nordale, the former mayor and business leader who led the drive to lobby Congress to provide funds to build a new airport. At first, the airport was planned for the top of Chena Ridge.

After the airport was built on the flats near the Chena and Tanana rivers, the Chamber of Commerce again proposed naming it after Nordale, who died in 1952. Instead of the airport, the community named a school after Nordale.

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