Federal moves to throttle methane emissions are driven by Colorado, and not just because it’s Coloradans in Congress taking up the fight.

The Senate voted 52-42 this week to restore the Obama administration’s rules to curb methane emissions, which were adopted in Colorado when John Hickenlooper was governor.

Now Hickenlooper is in the U.S. Senate and was one of those voting to reverse former President Donald Trump’s move to weaken regulations aimed at staving off climate change.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Diana Degette of Denver passed legislation out of the House Natural Resources Committee, 24-19, to capture methane gas emissions from oil and gas drilling sites on public lands.

Degette maintains methane is a potent ingredient of climate change, and oil and gas production has been one of its main contributors.

Under Degette’s legislation, drillers operating on public lands would have to capture 99% of their emissions by 2026, with equipment and repair standards. The measure is part of Degette’s Methane Waste Prevention Act.

“If we’re going to be serious about staving off the worst effects of this climate change, we’re going to have to get serious about cutting the amount of methane that’s being released into the atmosphere,” Degette said during the hearing.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet argued for tighter emission standards on drillers by citing wildfires and droughts that have ravaged Colorado, as the state has gotten hotter and drier.

“For most of the time I’ve been here we’ve treated climate change like it was somehow going to solve itself, or in some cases that it didn’t really exists,” he said.

“And nothing could be further from the truth. This is a problem for all 50 states and every American. It’s a problem for humanity.”

He cited Hickenlooper’s leadership in 2014 for creating the first state rules to limit methane leaks from oil and gas facilities.

“Gov. Hickenlooper worked by bringing environmentalists and industry leaders together and crafted a policy that reflected the consensus in my state around climate change,” Bennet boasted.