AUSTIN—Today, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and five members of the Texas Senate sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner urging Congress to immediately approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that could potentially add thousands of new jobs and generate millions of dollars to the Texas economy.

S. Fred Singer is professor emeritus at the University of Virginia and director of the Science & Environmental Policy Project. His specialty is atmospheric and space physics. An expert in remote sensing and satellites, he served as the founding director of the US Weather Satellite Service and, more recently, as vice chair of the US National Advisory Committee on Oceans & Atmosphere. You likely recognize his name as in 2007, he founded and chaired NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change).

Our unemployment rate is a concern. With 8.6% of our population with no revenue with which to pay their bills, you would think that our country would be making every effort to make America the epitome of business and job-creators friendly. You would also think that, in a time like this, our president would never shut down an opportunity, like the Keystone Pipeline, to employ 20,000 construction workers and $7 billion in private investments.