In May, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that Lee Ann Murray has accepted the position of executive director of the Citizens Advisory Council. Murray has served as assistant director and Pennsylvania staff attorney at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation since 2010, helping to direct and coordinate program, communications, and lobbying efforts. Her roles included serving as interim executive and member of the Renew Growing Greener Coalition.
Murray was legal counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel/Office of the Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2008 to 2010. Her prior DEP experience includes serving as regulatory counsel and assistant counsel in the Southcentral Regional Office between 1999 and 2006. She earned her law degree from Dickinson School of Law.
“Lee Ann Murray brings a wealth of knowledge on the environmental issues facing Pennsylvania,” said DEP Acting Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Citizens Advisory Council under her leadership.”
As executive director, Murray will coordinate the council’s research and reviews related to environmental protection, conservation, and resource management issues and its recommendations regarding policies, procedures, plans, and goals for protecting the environment and natural resources in Pennsylvania.
The Citizens Advisory Council was legislatively created in 1970 by Act 275, which also established the Department of Environmental Resources, the predecessor to DEP.
The council is comprised of 18 citizen volunteers appointed by the governor, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, and Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The council meets 10 times per year and meetings are open to the public.
