There was a similar theme in Kim Stanley Robinson's book Red Mars - a lot of the initial crew of colonists actually wanted to preserve the planet in its pristine state.

I thought this was completely crazy. There are no ecosystems to protect, no endangered species, no green living things. Moving development from Earth into space should count as an overwhelming win for the environment.

Most of the long term scientific value of the moon sits below the regolith, down to the layers that formed from the collision with earth. There are magnetic features below the surface of the moon that we are very interested in called 'lunar swirls'. We think they are old iron rich magma pipes that have solidified and become magnetic. IM-3 launches in 2025, and has a lander with the Lunar Vertex rover, hopefully this one wont fall over. Its job is to investigate one of these swirls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_swirls

Edit: I should point out, If there are lava tubes, it means there are likely caves. Caves can have atmospheres.

I can highly recommend "A City on Mars"[^0], which I recently read.

The authors go into fascinating detail about what it takes to build planetary settlements, and they not only focus on the engineering questions but make a point to talk about the legal aspects of space settlement as well.

[^0]: https://www.acityonmars.com/

While I understand their concerns, it seems a bit crazy to think you have any right to tell people what to do or not do on the moon.

No way, I want my 24 lane elevated freeway to circumnavigate the moon. My patriotic freedoms are being impeached.