Wisconsin Republicans were among those slamming the Obama administration yesterday, for rejecting a permit to build the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. But Obama said it was the GOP’s own fault, by imposing a 60-day deadline for the administration to act. Still, the president left the door open to the 16-hundred-60-mile pipeline in the future – and he suggested an alternative line to get crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries and ports in Texas. But Wausau area House Republican Sean Duffy said Obama was just trying to appease his supporters in an election year. He accused the president of turning his back on 100-thousand potential American jobs, while Canada explores other export markets like China for its oil. Wisconsin Senate Republican Ron Johnson of Oshkosh said the president balked at a major source of energy that U.S. oil companies do not have to purchase from the Middle East. And Johnson said Obama’s true loyalties lie with quote, “extreme environmentalists.” Environmental groups claimed victory, after they labeled the pipeline permit as a test case on whether Obama was serious about fighting climate change. The Trans-Canada Corporation said it would re-apply for a permit with the hopes of maintaining the project’s general timetable of a start-up in 2014.

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