Protect national monuments

President Trump is pushing for rolling back protections on 27 national monuments with the idea of opening them for oil drilling or other invasive industries.

National monuments protect and preserve places of outstanding beauty and places of significant cultural or geographic value. They have been designated as special and they should remain so. National monuments strengthen the integrity of our country and enrich the people who visit them. The attitudes of respect and honor that motivate us to create national monuments enrich our soul as a nation. Even if a person never gets to see a monument, the fact that it is honored and protected reverberates positively into personal consciousness. When we have the presence of mind to hold places as sacred and worth protecting, we open the door to see individuals as sacred, valuable and worth protecting. We strengthen our country’s character by having national monuments. The intangible gifts they give us are far more important than any oil drilling or other extractive industry.

Furthermore, the president has no legal right to remove protections of national monuments. He should be stopped from dishonoring these significant and sacred places.

Sally Leque

Kettle Falls