An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations

This fact sheet by the World Resources Institute (WRI) critiques a timeline produced by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) regarding environmental regulations for power plants. WRI argues that the EEI timeline is misleading because it conflates procedural events and existing rules with new compliance obligations, thereby creating a false impression of a regulatory "onslaught."

• WRI identifies four categories of activities in the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) timeline that are potentially misleading and do not represent new compliance obligations: rules remanded or vacated by courts, rules already in effect, public input during rulemaking, and National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) rules that set state standards rather than requirements for generation units.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is implementing a realistic timeline over the next five to ten years to bring the electric power industry into compliance with laws such as the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
• The electric power sector has generally been aware for several years, and in some instances decades, that these pollutants would be regulated, and many regulations have been in the pipeline for over ten years due to litigation and administrative delays.
• The regulatory framework established by the Clean Air Act has resulted in air quality improvements and public health benefits estimated to be between $82 billion and $556 billion annually.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations. https://www.wri.org/research/updated-response-eeis-timeline-environmental-regulations

Chicago

World Resources Institute. An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/updated-response-eeis-timeline-environmental-regulations.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations |url=https://www.wri.org/research/updated-response-eeis-timeline-environmental-regulations |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendupdated, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/updated-response-eeis-timeline-environmental-regulations}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }