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WASHINGTON—A House panel Tuesday voted to delay two sets of Environmental Protection Agency air-pollution rules by 15 months.

The House Energy and Power Subcommittee advanced a pair of bills that the Republican-controlled House is expected to take up later this fall. It's not certain that they could pass the Senate, but the bills approved Tuesday demonstrated support in both parties to stop EPA rules affecting cement plants and industrial and commercial boilers.

The vote came less than two weeks after President Barack Obama delayed a separate rule on smog, displaying at least some willingness to reconsider environmental regulations during the economic downturn.

Republicans have promised to continue their efforts to stop other parts of the EPA's agenda, and the initiatives approved Tuesday could resurface during coming negotiations to cut the federal deficit and set federal spending levels for 2012.

Industry groups say the EPA's boiler and cement-plant requirements aren't realistic and would cause existing factories to close or cut back during a time of economic distress. Public-health advocates say benefits of the rules, including a healthier work force and investments in pollution controls, would outweigh costs over the long term.

The standards for cement manufacturers have already been finalized and will affect about 100 facilities. A bill from Reps. John Sullivan (R., Okla.) and Mike Ross (D., Ark.) would rescind those rules, give the EPA 15 months to write new ones, and give cement plants five years or more to comply. The subcommittee passed it by a voice vote Tuesday.

The boiler rules are set to be finalized next April. A bill from Reps. Morgan Griffith (R., Va.) and G.K. Butterfield (D., N.C.) would force the EPA to delay those regulations by at least 15 months after the measure became law and to rewrite them to be more flexible. Facilities would then have five years or more to comply. The boiler bill passed by a voice vote.

Modifications to the bills would gain more Democratic votes, said Rep. Michael Doyle (D., Pa.), who expressed support for a 15-month delay but not a compliance timeline that could stretch beyond five years. "My hope is that we can work together," he told Republicans on Tuesday.

Some Senate Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), have endorsed legislation that would delay the boiler rules.

The EPA assistant administrator in charge of air programs, Gina McCarthy, defended the rules last week and said the agency opposed efforts to delay them. "It is terrifically misleading to say that implementation of the Clean Air Act costs jobs. It does not," she told lawmakers at a House hearing on the issue.

Boilers are on-site generators that can provide energy for apartment buildings and shopping malls, as well as refineries and factories. The EPA rules also would affect incinerators at industrial facilities.

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