Developer Bob Bahre of Paris said Thursday that he lays the blame for scuttling the multimillion dollar Lowe’s store project at the feet of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“There’s no question in my opinion,” Bahre said in a phone interview from New Hampshire, where he also has a home. “They took so damn long. Six months. They took the whole time. In my opinion, the state does not care about jobs. Lowe’s wanted to get going now.”

Lowe’s management confirmed Thursday what had been rumored all week among officials and residents in Oxford and Norway. They are not going to start construction of the store that was expected to hire 130 to 150 employees, 80 percent of them on a full-time basis, this spring as anticipated.

With the recent shutdown of Burlington Homes on Route 26 in Oxford, which put more than 70 people out of work, the loss is particularly tough to take, Bahre said.

“Why not push it through?” he said of the opportunity the state had to put the unemployed workers back to work.

Bahre said the land, which is owned by his son, Gary, of Alton, N.H., and daughter, Terry Carleton of Paris, will sit as it is for the time being. “Something will come there,” said Bahre, who still has hopes Lowe’s will continue its plans when the economy picks up.

“I can still make a living. It’s the 160 jobs that would have helped everybody in town,” he said.

Bahre had praise for Norway and Oxford, whose officials worked with Lowe’s management to bring the project to town.

“The two towns were great. They bent over backward. But the state, I’m disgusted with them. We get things done here,” he said, referring to New Hampshire’s environmental permitting process, which was involved in the development of Bahre’s New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. “We got the racetrack done quicker here (than Maine DEP did the Lowe’s application.)

Bahre said Gov. John Baldacci has to make a move to make DEP speed up the permitting process.

“It’s very disgusting. It’s not just our project they don’t care about. They’ve all got their jobs,” he said.

Bahre said Lowe’s still holds a lease on the land, but he did not have the agreement in front of him and therefore could not say how long it is in effect.

“I can’t remember in all honesty right now. We’re not going to worry about that. We’ll worry about that when the economy picks up,” he said.

Bahre praised Lowe’s officials for their efforts, saying neither side had asked to renegotiate the lease terms.

“They were really excited about going there. DEP waited I believe to the last day of the sixth month. Why not do it in three months? It’s nobody’s fault but DEP,” Bahre said. “The bids would have been out and that building would have been going up today.”