WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department is ordering the developer of a pipeline that would carry oil from western Canada to Texas to reroute it around environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska.

That means possibly delaying a final U.S. decision until after the 2012 election.

U.S. Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) criticized the decision Thursday, saying the delay hurts job creation. Lankford said the Keystone XL Pipeline would create 20,000 quality, well-paid jobs, and there’s no reason to block a project that would get people back to work immediately.

The decision to order Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. to figure out a way around an area that supplies water to eight states will require an environmental review of the new section. That review probably would take at least a year.