Mary Kelly

Austin | Attorney

Ms Kelly is a practicing environmental lawyer and former chemical engineer.  She currently works in the law firm, Culp & Kelly, on natural resource law and policy issues in the American West. Previously, she managed a consulting firm, Parula, that dealt with freshwater concerns in concert with the Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and the Environmental Defense Fund [EDF]. From 2002 through 2010, she served as vice president for EDF’s program in Rivers and Deltas, promoting stream flow protections in Texas, as well as water resource efforts in California, Louisiana and North Carolina. From 1989 until she came to EDF, she led the Texas Center for Policy Studies. The Center worked on a variety of environmental projects in the state, including toxic wastes, pesticide regulations, dams, savings and loan association bailouts, General Land Office and Veterans Land Board reforms, and production of the educational book and website, The Texas Environmental Atlas. Her earliest legal work was with the partnership, Henry, Kelly, Lowerre, and Frederick, a Texas firm dedicated to representing non-profit groups, ranchers, farmers, and neighborhood associations in environmental matters.