Utah Sen. Mike Lee to lead Senate Energy committee

• Lee has long been seen as the GOP's next-in-line, but it was a formal acknowledgement that he'd be the chair next year.

Catch up quick: Lee is a longtime opponent of federal ownership of Western public lands.

• He "looks forward to increasing local access and management for federal lands while stopping Washington's abuse of the Antiquities Act and overreach by BLM," a spokesman for the senator told Axios.

The other side: The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called Lee's chairmanship "a direct threat to America's public lands."

• "Senator Lee is uniquely and distinctly unqualified for this leadership post," Travis Hammill, SUWA's D.C. director, said in a news release.
• "He has been particularly critical of popular public lands protections for treasured places like Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, highlighting how he's out of step with the importance of these places to Americans," Hammill said.