Rep. Hastings faults Obama on oil policies

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., criticized President Obama Saturday for blocking the Keystone XL pipeline and restricting offshore oil drilling.

Hastings, in the weekly GOP media address, also called on the president to loosen regulations on the oil industry.

The moves, he said, would help lower gasoline prices and create jobs.

"Americans are right to worry that no relief is in sight [on gas prices]," Hastings said. "The president, who campaigned on a promise to address rising gas prices, now talks as if they're largely beyond his control."

He said Obama "has consistently blocked American energy production" -- most recently, by rejecting the Keystone pipeline which would carry oil recovered from Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast.

"And while the president says oil production alone can't solve our problems, his administration has proposed costly regulations that would hurt the supply of other domestic sources," Hastings said.