House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman will not return to committee leadership next Congress, leaving an open race for the top Republican spot on the panel next year.
Westerman has led Republicans on the Natural Resources Committee for six years and is opting not to seek a waiver to extend his leadership into the next Congress, a GOP aide confirmed to POLITICO. Punchbowl News first reported the development.
Reps. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) have both expressed interest in the ranking member seat. The GOP steering committee will meet Tuesday to vote on recommendations for who should become the committee’s senior Republican.
Westerman had until now been coy about whether he would look to extend his term atop the committee. Over the past six years, the Arkansas Republican — a forester by trade — has pushed land management and permitting reform policies. He led the committee this year in bolstering fossil fuel production, including by lowering royalties for drilling on public lands.
Stauber, who currently chairs the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, would bring a particular focus on mining and critical minerals to committee leadership. Gosar chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and has focused on investigating climate nonprofits.
Across the aisle, Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is on track to take over as committee chair. Huffman wrote to Democratic colleagues last week saying he would make the committee a nexus for Trump administration oversight and would build out a broad environmental agenda.
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