A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee Sept. 13 approved two bills by voice vote that would delay the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to strengthen air pollutant standards for cement kilns.

Approval of the bills by the Subcommittee on Energy and Power sends them to the full committee, which is expected to mark up the measures in coming weeks. House Republican leaders plan to bring the bills to the House floor the week of Oct. 3.

The EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2250), introduced by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), would bar EPA from issuing final emissions standards for industrial boilers, process heaters, and incinerators for 15 months after passage of the measure, and would delay the compliance deadline for five years after the effective date of the final rule.

The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2681), introduced by Reps. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.), would require EPA to revamp a series of regulations covering hazardous air pollutants and other byproducts of cement production to make them less burdensome, and would delay the compliance deadline for at least five years after the effective date in the final rule (168 DEN A-11, 8/30/11).

The proposals to delay the EPA rules are part of a broader effort largely led by House Republicans to roll back environmental regulations they view as overly burdensome and damaging to the economy.