President Barack Obama suffered a very public rebuff to his plans to green America's economy today when Republicans in the Senate blocked his choice of overseer for oil and gas exploration.

David Hayes, an environmental lawyer, fell three votes short of the 60 needed for confirmation as the deputy interior secretary. Hayes had served in the same post when Bill Clinton was president.

It was the first time an Obama nominee has fallen on the Senate floor, in a defeat engineered by Republicans from oil-rich states.

Angry Democrats accused Republicans of using the vote as payback against efforts by the Obama administration to overturn several controversial measures brought in during the final days of Bush's presidency.

The interior secretary, Ken Salazar, has revoked 77 oil-drilling permits in Utah, awarded under Bush-era regulations that made it easier for oil and gas companies to drill in wilderness areas and near national parks.

"This was a tired vote of bitter obstructionism," Salazar said in a statement after today's vote. "It may be uncomfortable for some to watch us have to clean up mess after mess – from corruption to lawbreaking – that is the previous administration's legacy at [the Department of] Interior, but to cast a vote against such qualified and fine person is the height of cynicism."

The Republicans, led by Utah's Bob Bennett and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, rejected the charge.

"The real issue in this matter is the credibility of the Department of Interior," Bennett told the Senate. "They say these [cancelled] leases are too close to the national parks. Sixty miles away is not too close."

Salazar had kept working until the final moments before the vote to try to win round the Republicans, writing personal letters to both Senators. He told Bennett he would take a second look at his decision to cancel the drilling permits, and promised Murkowski a hearing on her concerns that Obama would be too rigorous in enforcing the endangered species act. Despite losing the vote, Salazar stood by his decision to revoke the drilling permits.

Hayes, as deputy to Salazar, would have had day-to-day control of the interior department, which oversees public lands in the western states, national parks and management of fish and wildlife. It was unclear whether Senate Democrats would make a second attempt to get Hayes confirmed in the job. Three Democrats did not vote today.