Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has one word for the Obama administration's decision to postpone a final verdict on a $7 billion Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline until after the 2012 election, and it's this: "bullshit."

Republicans and oil companies have slammed the State Department for announcing last week that it will study an alternate route for the Keystone XL pipeline to avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska. Last night -- after Barton delivered his verdict on the administration's move -- the pipeline company TransCanada and Nebraska legislative leaders announced a tentative plan to reroute the pipeline as it travels through the Cornhusker State. (see related story)

Some critics have labeled the administration's decision as an effort to appease environmentalists who had threatened to withdraw their support for President Obama's re-election if the White House gave the go-ahead to a project that would carry Alberta's carbon-intensive oil sands crude to U.S. markets. Barton, the former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, went a step further yesterday on Capitol Hill during a panel discussion on American shale gas supplies.

The talk turned to Keystone XL, leading Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) to challenge a claim that the delay is Obama's fault. Doyle said he supports the project, too, but does not think it is fair to blame the White House for addressing Nebraskans' concerns about the Sandhills area and the massive Ogallala Aquifer beneath the Great Plains.

"All that we did was ask that he make a decision," Barton replied.

"Make a decision, not punt it another two years," he added, as Doyle tried to interject. "That's bullshit."

The exchange had an air of jocularity -- Barton is the manager of the congressional Republicans' baseball team and Doyle manages the congressional Democrats', and at one point Doyle referred to their baseball rivalry.

Still, Barton is particularly famous for off-the-cuff remarks, such as an apology to former BP PLC Chairman Tony Hayward for what Barton called a "shakedown" by the federal government after last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But he is scarcely the first person to use the slur to register his frustration with political rivals. During a speech this summer at a forum in Aspen, Colo., former Vice President Al Gore used the same term to describe arguments -- embraced of late by many Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Barton -- that man-made emissions are not causing changes in climate around the world (ClimateWire, Aug. 9).

A few minutes after using the expletive yesterday, Barton took back the floor. He thanked Doyle for joining the panel, saying it was heartening to see a Democrat join Republicans in learning about natural gas. But he did not back away from his comments.

"I'll have a discussion off-camera with [Doyle] about my view of what Obama did last week," Barton told the audience. "We're not here to discuss the pipeline. We're here to discuss hydraulic fracturing."