House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman will step aside from the committee’s Republican leadership next Congress, opening a contest for the party’s top position on the panel.

The Arkansas Republican, who has led the committee’s GOP members for six years, will not seek a waiver to extend his tenure, a Republican aide confirmed to POLITICO. Punchbowl News first reported the decision. Westerman had previously been noncommittal about whether he would pursue another term.

Reps. Pete Stauber of Minnesota and Paul Gosar of Arizona have both expressed interest in becoming the committee’s ranking Republican. The GOP steering committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote on recommendations for the panel’s senior Republican.

Westerman, a forester by trade, has made land management and permitting reform central to his work on the committee. This year, he led the panel in efforts to bolster fossil fuel production, including measures to lower royalties for drilling on public lands.

The two Republicans interested in succeeding him bring different areas of emphasis. Stauber chairs the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee and would be expected to focus on mining and critical minerals. Gosar, who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, has concentrated on investigating climate nonprofits.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the committee’s current ranking member, is on track to become chair. In a letter to Democratic colleagues last week, Huffman said he would make the panel a hub for oversight of the Trump administration while developing a broad environmental agenda.

The leadership changes would place Huffman at the helm of a committee that has spent the past year advancing policies to expand fossil fuel production. The incoming senior Republican will help shape the party’s response to his oversight and environmental priorities.