In a letter to the interior secretary, Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Rob Bishop question the propriety of Pres. Obama's "broad and frequent" use of the Antiquities Act to designate new national monuments on public lands.

Reports The San Francisco Chronicle:

House Republicans opened an investigation Tuesday into President Obama’s designation of three new national monuments in the California desert that protect more than 1.8 million acres of public land, along with six other monuments Obama has designated since January 2015.

The California desert monuments almost doubled the amount of land that Obama has set aside under the 1906 Antiquities Act, setting a new record for presidential land designations, three committee chairmen wrote in a letter toInterior Secretary Sally Jewell and Christy Goldfuss, managing director of theWhite House Council on Environmental Quality.

“The broad and frequent application of the Antiquities Act raises questions about the lack of transparency and consultation with local stakeholders,” wrote Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee; Rob Bishop, chairman of theHouse Natural Resources Committee; and Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.