The Republican majority House passed the bill by a 229:183 vote.

The Senate, which is majority Democrats, has not even scheduled a timetable to consider the legislation and President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill.

According to analysis by the Centre for American Progress, the 229 members who voted for the bill have accepted more than $45.7 million in contributions from the oil, gas and coal industries over the course of their careers, more than eight times the $5.4 million accepted by the 183 members who voted against the bill.

The legislation is the latest in a series of messages sent from coal-producing states to the Obama administration.

Republican Kentucky representative Ed Whitfield said the bill was a "reasonable alternative" to proposed carbon emission standards by the EPA for new power plants and rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions from the US' existing power plants.

Democrat California representative Henry Waxman responded by saying the bill was "part of the Republicans' ongoing attack on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act authority to address carbon pollution”

The EPA proposed a rule that any future coal plants built in the US must be able to emit at a rate of no more than 1100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, far below an estimated 1700-1900lb/MWh for the most efficient plants currently in operation.

The Republicans argue that the ruling is attainable given today’s technology and the time span given in which to make the changes.

The bill, crafted by Whitfield and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, would repeal any greenhouse gas standards EPA develops for power plant emissions and would require congressional approval should the agency enact regulations targeting the country's existing power plants.

It would also change the way the EPA would set emission standards for new power plants.

The current proposal states any new coal plant should be only as emission-intensive as cleaner-burning natural gas.