"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -His eternal power and Devine nature-have been clearly seen,being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
-Romans 1:20
(NIV)
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
"All thy works with joy surround Thee,
Earth and heaven reflect
Thy rays,
Stars and angles singing around Thee,
Center of unbroken praise,
Field and forest,
Vale and mountain,
Flowry meadow,
Flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain,
Call us to rejoice in Thee"
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Text: 87 87; Henry van Dyke,
1852-1933 alt.
" The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. "
-Psalms 19: 1-6
(NIV)
Environmental Law
Bob Moore has always given credit to "The Word" as being the Creator and Author of the Universe as described in the beginning verses of the Gospel of John:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come through into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
John 1:1-5 (The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition)
And, Bob Moore has always maintained that the theory of Evolution is not repugnant to his belief that all Creation was put in motion by "The Word" Himself – Jesus Christ. And, if the theory of Evolution ever becomes a pure scientific fact, Bob Moore believes that Evolution is just the mechanism that God used for the creation of what he perceives to be a beautiful universe, all of it containing the divine spark and fingerprint of God.
As a devout Christian, Bob Moore's belief has always been that man has a spiritual mandate to be "good stewards" of God's creation!
Bob Moore is an energetic outdoorsman and naturalist whose passion for nature developed from his many years of hunting and fishing since he was a little boy. His environmental activism grew out of his love and passion for nature. His love for the beauty of nature was reflected in much of his early work as a young lawyer advocating for the extension of environmental legislation. Through litigation and Public Activism, Bob has donated much of his available time in working to prevent the continuing environmental damage to the waters and wetlands adjacent to West Galveston Bay. These environmental threats are caused by industrial water pollution from Chocolate Bayou and Texas City, second-home real estate development on West Galveston Island, oil and gas drilling activities and air pollution. These activities led him into enforcement activities through local "ad hoc" citizens' groups who were not satisfied with the slow application of new environmental laws which began to develop in the 1970's. Those laws and the standards now being implemented by the various governmental agencies granting permits for subdivision developments of all kinds that affect this area have had a significant damaging impact on the flora and fauna of West Galveston Island on both the freshwater and estuarine wetlands. It is estimated that over 70% of the freshwater ponds and wetlands have been reduced or totally destroyed since the time the Fritiofson lawsuit was filed in 1978. The migratory patterns of the neo-tropical bird species have been severely impacted as well as local and migratory species.
More recently, Bob Moore has reflected that the "great outdoors" has long been the primordial source of his spiritual strength and also that of most Americans who have such a strong and natural affinity for our beaches and bays along the Texas Coast, not only along the Texas coastline, but all across the United States.
Bob's belief is that humanity has a responsibility to be good stewards in protecting these special and important natural areas and that, like the Native Americans, these special areas are to be utilized by man in a way that the Earth's beauty and creativity must be sustained contemporaneously with its usage. His belief is that subdivision development of all private property on the Barrier Islands across and along the shoreline of the United States should be immediately stopped by a Presidential Executive Order until the undeveloped portions on all Barrier Islands can be purchased and placed into the National Parks system similar to Padre Island National Seashore in South Texas. Click here for Exhibit "A", Bob's letter of January 21, 2009 to President Barack Obama.
Bob's point of view is totally consistent with the views expressed by those Deists in Early American History, Bertrand Russell and Henry David Thoreau, and of more recent vintage, John Muir. For a greater appreciation of the underlying reasoning which drives his efforts to stop further subdivision developments on West Galveston Island, Bob highly recommends the PBS Series produced by Ken Burns entitled "The National Parks: America's Best Idea, found at http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/. Bob has alwaya maintained that our country's beaches and bays - and all wetlands - should be administrated by our Federal Government under The National Park System.
Representative Case:
Fritiofson v. Alexander, 772 F.2d 1225 (1985)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Bob Moore filed a "pro-bono" suit in 1978 because of Eva Fritiofson's commitment to save the area formerly owned by her grandfather, John Egert, on Eckert's Bayou. This suit was against the United States Corps of Engineers, the developer of Pirate's Beach Subdivision on West Galveston Island, and other Federal agencies, to require the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prior to the development of the Laffite's Cove Subdivision on Eckert's Bayou on Galveston Island, because of the threatening damage to the flora and fauna of this unique wetlands area.
A Preliminary Injunction was obtained in 1978, and after years of research, Public Hearings, presentations of expert testimony, both sides finally submitted Motions for Summary Judgment. The Plaintiffs' finally won a Temporary Injunction in U.S. Federal District Court on March 2, 1984. (Click Here for Exhibit B: The Houston Post, Sunday March 11, 1984, "Environmental attorney triumphs over army of Goliaths.) That injunction was appealed, the legal principles sustained, and was then reversed only in part for technical clarification of the record in 1985 by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. A new permit application was then submitted by the developer. Because of the substantial favorable changes which were made to the original plan, which included the expansion of the "Reserve Area" from 8 acres to 35 acres, the developer was forced to save the major portion of largest known burial ground of the indigenous people on the Texas Coast, and the only remaining group of the three (3) historic "oak motts" known since the early 1800's as "The Three Trees." Local environmentalist and preservationiist Evangeline Whorton was of great assistance to Bob Moore in effecting this result.
In the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' remand for clarification of findings in order to enjoin the development, an extremely strong opinion was written by the Court on the subject of "cumulative wetland loss" in response to the Defendants' appeal.
This case has provided the precedent for many other wetland protection cases throughout the United States and particularly on the Texas coast and adjacent wildlife wintering grounds, such as the Katy Prairie. This case was used as authority to block the construction of an International Airport west of Houston on the "Katy Prairie," a sensitive environmental wintering grounds for migratory waterfowl.
The Lafitte's Cove Nature Preserve
In addition, the developer was required to preserve 36 acres in the center of the Lafitte's Cove Subdivision, which was named as "The Lafitte's Cove Nature Preserve." This 36-acre preserve was then donated by the developer to the City of Galveston and can today be traversed by the public between sunrise and sunset. It is one of the most visited spots on Galveston Island for birders and nature lovers. Click here for Exhibit "C", "Spring's renewal brings birds back to island," Galveston County Daily News, March 17, 2009, written by Mort Voller. This 36-acre preserve is in the center of a long ridge which had contained perhaps the largest trove of archaeological artifacts of the indigenous people on the whole Texas Coast.
The developer had attempted to have only a brief report prepared by a Rice University student working on her Ph.D., which was a non-technical review of the artifacts recovered. Bob Moore and Evangeline Whorton flew to Austin, Texas with boxes full of pottery shards and arrowheads to make a special appeal to the then-Director of the Texas 
The archaeological reports and historical evidence produced by Bob Moore during, and subsequent to, his legal battles in the Fritiofson case now prove beyond any reasonable doubt that The Lafitte's Cove Nature Preserve, was the contact point of Cabeza de Vaca and the indigenous people on November 6, 1527. This event was described in Cabeza de Vaca's report: "La Relacion," to the King of Spain, which has been translated and edited by Cyclone Covey and published by the University of New Mexico Press under the title: "Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America."
In addition, Cabeza de Vaca described the existence of another distinct tribe that lived on the island he named "Malhado" (present day Galveston Island), and stated that this group was "a league and a half away." This coincides with the existence of the archaeological site 41GV5 near the Historical Marker located on Bob Smith Road at Jamaica Beach Park. The archaeological report for site 41GV66 mentioned above, created by Robert Ricklis, also corroborates with scientific evidence that Lafitte's Cove Nature Preserve was the main portion of the ridge inhabited by the indigenous people described by Cabeza de Vaca. While Dr. Ricklis did not specifically make such a statement, he has published subsequent papers that state that the findings in his report on Mitchell Ridge (Lafitte's Cove Nature Preserve) corroborate the facts of Cabeza de Vaca's narrative report. When asked on two separate occasions by Bob Moore: "Dr. Ricklis, do you or do you not believe that 41GV66 is the spot of the first contact of Cabeza de Vaca within the present boundaries of Galveston Island?" His response in both instances was: "Bob, I cannot think of any other place that it could have been."
The John M. O'Quinn I-45 Corridor Project
In 1997, acting as an Advisory Director for Scenic Galveston, Bob Moore enlisted the John M. O'Quinn Charitable Foundation to donate in excess of $400,000.00 for the purchase of the Tamburine tract of land which had been used as a "spoil pit." With these funds, Evangeline Whorton and the Board of Scenic Galveston were able to obtain matching grant funds to restore that area, and to purchase adjacent areas, to complete the rehabilitation of this important wetlands estuary along the western entrance to the Galveston Island Causeway, dedicated and named The John M. O'Quinn I-45 Corridor Project.
Destruction of Wetlands by Cattle - Starvation Cove, West Galveston Bay
In September of 1997, Bob Moore began observing the massive destruction of wetlands that was taking place near his home in the Starvation Cove area on West Galveston Bay, due primarily to cattle grazing. Because there were two large and separate tracts of land that represented two distinct "time frames" in which the cattle grazing had taken place, clear evidence was developed from Bob's aerial photographs that show the insidious damage to wetlands by cattle. This never has been previously documented. Because of the many lines of cattle trails which could be observed from an airplane, a comparison between these two tracts, and a third tract which did not have any cattle grazing, shows the loss to this large Spartina marsh wetlands.
These photographs also show the "network of trails" made by the cattle, which could not be seen when looking across the marsh on the ground. Documentation of the trails provide an explanation of how the loss and deterioration of this large expanse of wetlands has taken place.
The cows follow each other in a line and "make trails." These "trails" increase in number and closeness to one another, and form a "spider-web pattern" which can be clearly seen in the aerial photographs. See below photographs, taken of this area on September 28, 1997.
The "compaction" of these trails reduces the elevation of the marsh land table. During the flow of tidal water through these trails, on the incoming and outgoing tides, soil is taken out with the tides a little at a time, further deepening the trails and lowering the growth table below that which is required to sustain the growth of Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass). This grass requires an elevation that is not constantly under water and which is subject to "alternating inundation" by the tides. (Click Here for Exhibit D: "The Cradle of Life" by Bob Moore dated August 7, 1995 for a more detailed description of the values and functions of these Spartina wetlands.)
Because the elevation of these trails is lowered by six to ten inches, "silt" flows in and out of the surface table of the marsh. This causes the roots of the adjacent "non-compacted" marsh to be exposed. This marsh grass slowly falls and dies from the process of the erosion of the soil around its roots. These trails become "wider and wider" and the grass cannot regenerate, due to the lowering of the "land table."
As the trails become wider, the velocity of the water on incoming and outgoing tides increases and accelerates this erosion process. There has also been a measured minimal subsidence of the north shoreline on this area, which has aggravated this marsh erosion process.
The aerial photographs taken on September 28, 1997 clearly show the differential in damage between Tract A, Tract B, and Tract C near Bob Moore's home. There is clear evidence of no damage to the adjacent Tract C, where there has not been any cattle grazing. See below photographs, taken of this area on September 28, 1997.
Photo showing Tract B -- Intermittent and recent grazing -- and Tract C -- No Grazing
In the fall of 1997, Bob Moore formed a "Wetlands Ad Hoc Committee" of volunteers composed of the heads of private as well as governmental environmental organizations and agencies, along with well known environmental activists on West Galveston Island. A strategy was developed that encouraged the land owner and cattlemen to remove the cattle from these wetlands in order to stop this ongoing destruction. Presently, plans and strategies are also being developed to "restore" these "lost wetlands," and since Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2000 this area of Starvation Cove is now totally protected from any continued grazing because of the cattleman's construction of a fence to keep the cattle out of both Tracts A and B of these wetlands.
Special mention should be given to the determined stand taken by the land developer, Mr. Jeff Blackard, Senior Partner in Oly-Galveston, Ltd. in preventing the cattleman from continuing to graze his cattle on Tract B and also, for providing substantial fencing materials and labor to repair the fence dividing Tracts A and B. An acknowledgement and Award for this environmental preservation work should be given to Mr. Blackard, who to this day continues to be a responsible developer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
U.S. Corps of Engineer Permits For Construction In Wetlands
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Representation of Individuals Attempting to Obtain U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Permits
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Corps of Engineer Permits for Projects Impacting Wetlands
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Consultant for Corporations Attempting to Obtain Corps Permits
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Consultant and Local Counsel for Environmental Groups
Because of Bob Moore's years of experience in representing local and national environmental Groups and also being involved in Public Activism, he has learned that many projects are needed and necessary, and good development can still be achieved by minimizing impacts to wetlands. Bob Moore has developed mitigation strategies and techniques that not only satisfy the requirements of the law, but usually satisfy the higher standards of most environmental activists.
Including his own shoreline restoration project of approximately 200 feet, Bob Moore has obtained permits and assisted his neighbors in completing an additional 700 linear feet of shoreline restoration. The average width is 15 to 20 feet, thus producing approximately 20,000 square feet of "spartina wetlands" on the east shoreline of Eckert's Bayou. (Click Here for Exhibit D: "The Cradle of Life" by Bob Moore dated August 7, 1995.)
In addition, this design for shoreline restoration was suggested and has been implemented by the present developer in the Pirate's Cove area who currently has mitigation plans to create approximately 39 acres of similar wetlands.
Additionally, Bob Moore's personal project of shoreline restoration at his home is now being used as an example and recommended as a "model" for shoreline rehabilitation on the Texas Coast. This project was noticed and published in the Galveston Bay Foundation, Habitat Conservation Blueprint: A Plan to Restore the Habitats and Heritage of Galveston Bay -- Sites, Strategies and Resources, December 1998, and which stated on page 40:*
"Bob Moore's Property. One person
can make a difference!"
"Mr. Bob Moore is a resident of Galveston Island and a student of the values and functions of wetlands. He noticed during an unusually low tide in winter 1995 that easily-accessible oyster beds around the island were disappearing and what once was marsh was now devoid of all but a few scattered stems of cordgrass. Without a marsh to support the food chain, the many fish prized by sport fishermen were disappearing.
Mr. Moore developed a plan that reclaimed valuable habitat and simultaneously protected his bayfront property from shoreline erosion. A berm to act as an attachment site for oysters was built just offshore by stacking pieces of concrete riprap in a line, and mixing in oyster shells. Ready-mixed concrete was poured over the berm to hold the shell and riprap in place. Once the berm was completed, a bed for the new salt marsh was created using tested and approved dredged sand. Mr. Moore and several volunteers then planted smooth cordgrass, obtained from Houston Lighting and Power Co., Inc.
Land owners can protect their shoreline by building attractive marsh habitat in place of, or in front of, a bulkhead. (See article, "Local Landowners Continue to Initiate Smart Alternatives to Shoreline Protection")
*Photo courtesy of The Galveston Bay
Foundation - Reprinted with Permission
To further protect the shoreline against erosion, a hard structure was constructed on the landward side of the marsh. An attractive wall was designed, using bags of Sacrete stacked on top of each other like bricks. Surprisingly, and thanks to all the assistance Mr. Moore received, this work was completed in only four days!
he new marsh has become a thriving ecosystem. Marsh plants are doing well, and are providing both food and cover for many species of animals. Rock crabs and blue crabs are found regularly. White ibis and clapper rails forage on sand crabs inhabiting the new marsh and provide enjoyment for avid and not-so-avid birdwatchers. Certainly, this habitat is not exactly the same as early naturalists encountered, but it is an excellent example of what can be done to balance the need for habitat and wildlife with human interests. They need not be exclusive."
*Article reprinted by permission.
Barrier Island Protection
Our public continues to live under the delusion that our nation’s state and local laws are adequate to remedy what now is conceded to be catastrophic losses to our barrier islands and their beaches, bays and wetlands. And to further compound the problem, just recently (January, 2009) NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen sent President Barack Obama a letter warning him of the need to take decisive action now in his first administration to stop soaring carbon emissions that threaten to trigger global flooding, widespread species lost and continued major weather disruption. Dr. Hansen argues that most estimates of sea level rise are too conservative, and that thanks to accelerating ice melt, rises will be far greater than previously thought. Rather than a rise of between 20 and 60 centimeters as suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Hansen has told you that a far more likely figure will be about 1.4 meters, enough to cause flooding in many of the world’s low-lying areas. Our Galveston Island and the adjacent mainland are particularly vulnerable and will be inundated. And so will be all the other barrier islands on our Nation’s coasts! We have already experienced our wetlands disintegrating and serious erosion of our wetlands where they interface with our bays.
While natural subsidence has also played an important role in the erosion of our barrier islands and wetlands, the development of subdivisions on our barrier islands, at least in the history of West Galveston Island, has been the greatest single cause of the destruction of this very precious asset we have on Galveston Island. Our public has enjoyed Galveston and its unique resources both for recreational and commercial fishing for almost 200 years, as it is only 50 miles away from the Houston megalopolis that is now home to almost 6 million people.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers, under the Department of the Army, has had the responsibility for the protection of our barrier islands and wetlands and the implementation of the mandates of NEPA and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. I can tell you without any equivocation and with absolute certainty that this government agency has done a great disservice to our public in its failure to carry out its mandate. To the contrary, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, acting under the policies of the Secretary of the Army, has been the main catalyst in the continuing destruction of our beaches, bays and wetlands, by literally becoming the advocate for land and real estate developers and issuing its permits for the destruction wetlands on our barrier island. This is while many dedicated and talented personnel working in this agency and other Federal and State agencies conscientiously try to apply their skills to protect our natural resources. But, they are fighting a losing battle in this political game over which they seemingly have no control, due to the Real Estate Lobby and congressional influence.
I would ask that you, the public, write the President and request that his staff assemble the necessary information to abruptly change the paradigm for the protection of our barrier islands, our beaches, our wetlands and our bays, and request that he then issue an Executive Order directed to all federal agencies, ordering them not to allow them to issue any more permits for subdivision development on any unprotected barrier islands along the entire coastline of the United States. Request that his staff craft the appropriate language that elevates the importance of barrier islands to all the citizens of the United States, mandating barrier island protection by defining them as having the same legal status as our National Parks.
The unbridled destruction of our barrier islands by real estate developers has only allowed the rich to become richer as a consequence of the same greed and irresponsibility that has gravely harmed our economy. The important commercial and recreational resources of our barrier islands should always be available to our Nation as a whole. But they are being relentlessly destroyed because of impotent laws and regulations that seemingly lack any meaningful force or power to actually protect the environment because of the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ failure or unwillingness to interpret them in the interest of serving the public’s overall interest.
My lifetime of living most of my years on West Galveston Island has allowed me to live on, use and raise my family during the most important years of our lives. In my lifetime, the Western portion of our Island, which is not protected by a seawall, was totally free from any development. The few “fishing camps” that were sprinkled across 16 miles of the Western portion of West Galveston Island were few and far between. When the first real estate developers started destroying the Island by dredging channels and canals, and filling in wetlands, and subdividing lots for “second homes,” there was no real market. Gradually, ordinary working people could afford to buy these lots cheaply and build for themselves a “second home” or “vacation home.” With the subsidy of the United States government in allowing mortgages to finance the construction because of the Federal government’s providing of National Flood Insurance, coupled with the state’s subsidy of Windstorm Insurance, and the agricultural exemption for cattle grazing, the West End of Galveston Island continued to grow and to be developed in a piecemeal fashion, without any comprehensive plan to protect the Island from the storms and rising tides. Now there is only a small portion West End of the Island has not been criss-crossed by power lines, ditches, canals, effluence from septic systems, roads, and houses along with the general destruction of the pastures which feed and nurture the wetlands. The fragile environment of our Barrier Island is almost totally destroyed.
Another recent lawsuit, Galveston Beach to Bay Preserve v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 3:07-cv-00549 (S.D.Tex.-Galveston, filed Nov. 27, 2007), now attempts again to require the Corps to do an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before issuing permits for three (3) major pending developments which comprise over 1,300 acres, which will virtually destroy the four (4) remaining large tracts of land on West Galveston Island. Regardless of whether or not an EIS is completed, the Corps’ past performance suggests that they will act as they have before, and even after completing a Comprehensive EIS, continue to issue permits for these proposed subdivisions.
Hardly any human being that I’ve ever known has failed to recognize the importance that our beaches, wetlands and bays play in allowing the rich and the non-rich alike such a beautiful and powerful source of recreation. The beauty of our beaches, wetlands and bays have been described as being akin to an experience in an outdoor cathedral, nurturing man’s spiritual nature in a way that is indescribable. Today, only the super-rich can afford this luxury of ownership, as ordinary citizens of our country have been gradually squeezed out of the few remaining areas that represent a near-pristine experience of the outdoors that was once enjoyed by all people who did not own homes on barrier islands.
Write and encourage our President to execute of an Executive Order placing a moratorium on all subdivision developments on all barrier islands of the United States, which can be legally accomplished under the existing Constitutional standards announced in the case of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Comm’n, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992). This Executive Order is to stop and prevent all future subdivision developments on all unprotected barrier islands to satisfy Constitutional considerations under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses. The government can later implement a policy to purchase any properties that would not satisfy the legal standards of condemnation allowed in the Lucas case, such as those under the South Carolina Beachfront Management Act, located in Title 48, Chapter 39 of the South Carolina Code.
Secondly, request that he have Congress, while attending to our other national crises, create a Congressional committee to draft appropriate legislation to further define and sanction the destruction of not only “wetlands” under the existing Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, but to extend the definition of wetlands to include the adjacent uplands between the beaches and the bays on barrier islands which contain fresh water wetlands and swales necessary for the natural protection of barrier islands through the processes defined by recent studies noted in Dr. John B. Anderson’s book “The Formation and Future of the Upper Texas Coast,” and the classic Ian McHarg book “Design With Nature.” You can call this proposed legislation the National Barrier Island Protection Act and craft it along the lines of the Padre Island National Seashore Act, which was authored and shepherded through Congress by our very popular deceased Senator from Texas, the Honorable Ralph Yarborough.
Thirdly, while taking these two (2) immediate actions, you will also have to take the necessary steps to amend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act to terminate the issuance of flood insurance to any new structures on barrier islands not behind a seawall. A quick assessment on West Galveston Island shows that there is an over-abundance of real estate subdivision lots that have already been permitted, allowing for the continued development of thousands of homes. The President's Executive Order should also ban the issuance of any flood insurance policies on any new structures built in these areas to help free the American taxpayers from having to subsidize the extreme losses occasioned by the hurricanes, not only on the Texas Gulf Coast, but the Florida Gulf Coast and the Eastern Coast of our United States also. This step will be consistent with our national commitment to cut wasteful government spending.
See the letter to President Barack Obama, January 21, 2009.
Additional Environmental/Historical Projects of Bob Moore
- Protest Against Drilling in Gulf/Referendum for Drilling Ordinance
- Leading Protests Against Channelization of Chocolate Bayou
In the early 1970's, the U.S. Corps of Engineers published a "Notice of Permit Request" for plans to dredge and straighten Chocolate Bayou, along the north shoreline of West Galveston Bay, from the mouth of Chocolate Bayou straight up to an area just south of Alvin, Texas, and to dredge a huge turning basin there in order to develop a mini-Houston Ship Channel for further industrialization by chemical plants and refineries.
Bob Moore put together an "ad hoc" committee of citizens and organizations to require the Corps to hold a public hearing and this group made such a strong, effective and powerful presentation that the Corps reevaluated its initial determination that the permit would be issued.
It is significant to note that the Corps then made a decision to decline and not issue this permit based on the findings that such dredging would disburse silt and sedimentary amounts of highly toxic chemicals such as arsenic and mercury, apparently deposited there from the operations of the existing industrial complex that had been built near the mouth of Chocolate Bayou.
It was this activity that caused Bob Moore to establish the non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation known as "Save Galveston-West Bay, Inc."
- Leading Protests Against Oil and Gas Drilling in West Galveston Bay
During the same early 1970's (around 1973), the U.S. Corps of Engineers had also issued notices for permits for various oil and gas companies to drill oil and gas wells in West Galveston Bay, approximately fourteen (14) wells. At that time, the permits required the dredging of 14-foot-deep channels criss-crossing West Galveston Bay from the Intercoastal Canal and allowing the spoil to be piled up along the sides of the channels that would be used to float in the drilling rigs. This would have not only blocked ordinary marine traffic in West Bay, but would have produced catastrophic results in killing all the oyster reefs in West Galveston Bay due to the siltation that would have been caused by the dredging activities.
Bob singlehandedly rented a booth at the Houston Boat Show and with the help of a few friends, amassed in excess of 20,000 signatures of fishermen and sportsmen requesting the U.S. Corps of Engineers to decline these permits. It became apparent that these protests would not stop the Corps of Engineers from issuing these permits. It should be noted that the U.S. Corps of Engineers has never been known to deny any subdivision or major industrial development as it pertains to West Galveston Bay, other than the single incident of the "Chocolate Bayou Turning Basin".
Bob Moore then was able to make direct telephone contact with the then-Texas Land Commissioner, Bob Armstrong, and threatened a lawsuit against the Commissioner if he did not withdraw the leases that had already been granted to the oil companies applying for the Corps of Engineers permit to drill in West Galveston Bay. When Bob Moore mentioned to the Land Commissioner, Bob Armstrong, that he had 20,000 signatures of sportsmen protesting this proposed drilling activity, the Commissioner flew down, picked Bob Moore up at Hobby Airport, and they flew across the shorelines of West Galveston Bay and Bob Moore pointed out the pollution caused by one oil drilling operation near Bird Island in the San Luis Pass area of West Bay. Being the great Land Commissioner that he was, Bob Armstrong took the responsibility of renegotiating those leases, causing the drilling rights to be withdrawn, and as a result, there has not been any drilling for oil and gas directly in West Galveston Bay proper since that time.
Other Significant Quality of Life Issues:
- Protest/Injunction to Preserve Pier 19
- Protest Against Development of Superport on Pelican Island
- Legal Support Against the Texas City Copper Smelter
- Protest Against the LNG Facility on Pelican Island
- Protest Against the Marquette Development
- The Robert M. "Bob" Moore Wildlife Sanctuary
- Active Support for the “Beach to Bay” Preserve
- Active Support of Wetlands Ordinance for the City of Galveston
Bob Moore has written many essays concerning the beauty of West Galveston Island which have been published in serveral local publications. To view these essays visit the Articles Section by Clicking Here.