Keynote Address 
The Honorable Lloyd Bentsen 1 
United States Senate 
The Galveston Estuary—the seventh largest in the United States—has been a magnet for 
commerce and progress throughout the centuries. 
Named in honor of Governor Galvez of Louisiana, it became a base of operations for the pirate 
Jean Lafitte, who called it Campeche and set out to raid Spanish commerce. When one of Lafitte's 
captains took it upon himself to capture and sink a U.S. merchant ship in 1820, the pirates were 
quickly ordered off the island by the American government. 
The moment their ships cleared the harbor, American settlers began to arrive. When Texans 
fought the historic battle of San Jacinto, Galveston was the temporary capital. During the Civil War, 
this city was the chief Confederate supply port on the Gulf of Mexico, and the scene of much fighting. 
We are here because we understand that the battle of Galveston Bay has taken on a new form. 
Today, in the 1980s, we are fighting for the survival of this estuary. 
In war and in peace, during pirate raids and in periods of peaceful commerce, through hurricanes 
and through the centuries, the Galveston Estuary has been a source of life—and livelihood—for an 
entire region. 
After centuries of growth and change, the delicate ecology of this estuary—and many others in 
the United States—hangs in the balance. Current trends, if left unchecked, could turn Galveston Bay 
into another Lake Erie. 
When we debated the Clean Water Act in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, 
I made it a special point to see that Galveston Bay was included in the select list of priority estuaries 
of national significance. 
Some of you here today played key roles in helping to get that designation and I look forward to 
working with you, through the Galveston Bay Foundation, to find honest answers to the competing 
demands of development and conservation. As some of you know, I am an ex-officio member of the 
Galveston Bay Foundation. It is dedicated to finding honest answers to the competing demands of 
development and conservation in and around the bay. Members of the Foundation may be divided 
on specific issues; they may be traditional adversaries on development questions, but they are united 
in a common determination to save this bay. 
A comprehensive, broadly supported management plan to preserve and enhance water quality 
can save the estuary—and that is why we are here today. 
This conference is the coming together of a wide variety of experts who have devoted a great deal 
of time and talent to the problems of managing Galveston Bay. The federal government is ready to 
help; Governor Clements' office is involved; state agencies such as Parks and Wildlife, the Water 
Commission and the General Land Office are committed to a cooperative, comprehensive program 
for the bay. 
Our job is to see that Galveston Bay is healthy, fertile, rich and lovingly nurtured. 
And that will be a difficult task. There are not many places I know of where you have a very fragile, 
delicate 600-square-mile ecosystem that provides a major source of foodfish, shellfish and game fish; 
The Honorable Mr. Bentsen is Senior Senator from the State of Texas. 
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