When Elizabeth Dasburg tried to use cash to pay the entry fee to the Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia, she was told that the site, part of the U.S. National Park Service, could accept cards only, no cash.
An employee suggested she go to the local grocery store or “big chains like Walmart” to purchase a gift card. “Since those are cards, we can accept them in leu [sic] of cash,” the site employee wrote.
Dasburg and two others who also were denied entrance to a national park unless they used a card to pay the entrance fee on Wednesday sued the National Park Service, challenging its cashless fee collection policy.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs allege the federal agency is violating U.S. law by refusing to accept U.S. currency as entry payment.
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is financially supporting the lawsuit.
“CHD is excited to support attorney Ray Flores and the plaintiffs in this case to push back against the move toward a cashless society and central bank digital currency,” said Kim Mack Rosenberg, CHD general counsel.
“By forcing people to use credit cards or digital wallets, under the guise of convenience, the National Park Service becomes a player in the surveillance state, undermining park visitors’ privacy right,” Rosenberg said.
Flores told The Defender he found it “appalling” that “these pristine lands are the nation’s testing ground” for a cashless society.
The National Park Service has been implementing and expanding a cashless entry payment system over the past few years, Flores said.
Now, nearly 30 national parks, historic sites and monuments deny entrance to those who try to pay with cash, the complaint said. They accept only credit, debit and other electronic forms of payment, such as ApplePay.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare this practice unlawful, which would mean the National Park Service would be forced to let visitors pay with cash. They also seek relief for the cost of the suit, including attorney fees.
Defendants in the case are the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior — which oversees the National Park Service — and Charles F. Sams III in his official capacity as National Park Service director…
Children's Health Defense 
