Congressional Republicans are poised to zap the new federal rule requiring oil and gas companies drilling on public lands to control their hydrocarbon emissions.

The Bureau of Land Management rule aimed at reducing air pollution from venting, burn-off and leaks of methane was among the first Obama administration rules that lawmakers this week worked to repeal under a law that allows reversals when a new president takes office.

Lawmakers invoked the Congressional Review Act, which lets them roll back executive action taken during the past 60 legislative work days if a rule imposes excessive costs, exceeds agency authority or is redundant. Congress this week killed a rule aimed at protecting streams near coal mines; President Donald Trump still must sign off on their action.

The BLM rule requiring companies to control emissions on federally managed public land took effect Jan. 17. A federal judge in Wyoming had rejected an industry legal effort to block the rule. It was modeled after Colorado’s rule requiring oil and gas companies to capture rather than burn off or vent methane, a heat-trapping gas linked to climate change.

Lawmakers pressed ahead Thursday as U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, put forth an industry-backed bill to kill the federal methane rule. During debate, committee members argued that only the Environmental Protection Agency and states have the power to regulate air pollution under the federal Clean Air Act.

The House is expected to vote on the issue Friday. The bill to kill the rule then would move to the Senate.

House Republicans said industry methane emissions have decreased, even as production increased.

“Congress has an obligation to ensure executive actions are consistent with congressional intent and that agencies operate in accordance with their statutory mandate,” Bishop said. “When they don’t — and in this case they haven’t — it is our responsibility to act.”

For years, oil and gas companies without systems in place to capture methane gas for sale or on-site use have disposed of methane by opening valves and venting it and by flaring.

BLM data show that companies between 2009 and 2014 wasted enough gas to power 5.1 million homes for a year. That’s gas on which companies would have had to pay royalties to state, tribal and federal governments.

Congressional Democrats, including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, on Thursday sent Republican colleagues a letter calling the Congressional Review Act “an exceedingly blunt tool” for blocking what they see as “common-sense revisions” to out-of-date BLM rules.

The royalties lost from wasted methane “is millions of dollars that could go to state infrastructure needs, schools and emergency services,” the Democrats wrote.

“Under the law, BLM has the obligation to conserve the oil and gas resource, prevent waste and ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return on production from federal leases.”

Oil and gas industry leaders applauded lawmakers’ attack on the rule. “As a land management agency, BLM lacks not only the statutory authority but the resources and expertise to regulate air quality,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Denver-based lobbying group Western Energy Alliance. “The Western Energy Alliance strongly supports use of the Congressional Review Act to roll back this clear overreach of federal authority in the form of a rule that will provide very little environmental benefit but at great cost.”

The WEA and the Independent Petroleum Association of America filed the lawsuit challenging the rule. Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana joined the lawsuit to block the rule from taking effect.

But U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Wyoming concluded that BLM officials do have the authority to regulate air pollution on public land, though his decision left open avenues for the industry to continue to fight the rule in court. Skavdahl set an expedited hearing schedule to resolve the issue.

Conservation groups strongly support the BLM air pollution rule.