President Biden is canceling oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. By reducing supply as Russia and Saudi Arabia extend production limits, the move could increase the prices of gasoline, petroleum products, and shipping while giving a gift, so to speak, to foreign producers of energy.

“We’re canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the previous administration in the Arctic Refuge,” Mr. Biden tweeted on Thursday, “and protecting more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic.”

Writing in the Sun, Lawrence Kudlow called the cancellations “sheer insanity” that “abandoned any semblance of energy dominance.” He also noted that by dealing dirty with those who signed government contracts, “Mr. Biden’s breaking the law.”

“They just yanked those leases,” an Alaska Republican, Senator Sullivan, said at the Capitol after the reversal. “But now we’re going to get ready for the next lease sale. Give me a break. Who the hell in their right mind would invest money in a lease sale when they just watched the first lease sale get yanked?”

Expect this chaos to be reflected in the price of gasoline. On Saturday, the national average for a gallon rose above $3.82. It was $2.39 when Mr. Biden was inaugurated, despite his inaccurate claim last October that it was “over $5 when I took office.”

Companies can wait up to ten years for permission to drill on federal land. According to a Government Accountability Office report, it then takes more than four years — time spent exploring for the best spot and building infrastructure — before a drop of oil or cubic foot of gas is extracted.

A lack of consistency makes the long-term planning the energy industry requires impossible. Meanwhile, putting the vast reserves of Alaska off limits benefits foes like Venezuela, Iran, and Russia — which uses oil income to fund its war machine in Ukraine — to the benefit of Communist China.

Mr. Biden’s erratic path away from energy independence began in the 2020 campaign when he promised to end drilling on federal property. After his victory, the energy industry began to plan for that policy change, but then he began issuing permits at a breakneck pace that surpassed Mr. Trump’s.

The industry switched gears again, but even as Mr. Biden boasted about the flood of new leases, he was fighting in court for a freeze on that same exploration. The White House was also pushing legislation that Speaker Pelosi called “use it or lose it” that would require companies to drill on every leased acre or pay a fine.

What was the industry to do? They could invest in Alaska, obeying a 2017 mandate by Congress to do so, or they could look for other locations in anticipation that permission would be yanked, and any legal appeals be unsuccessful.

Mr. Biden has charted a course for energy uncertainty on sea as well as land. In May of 2022, he canceled three offshore oil leases. Seven months later, he reinstated them to win the vote of the West Virginia Democrat, Senator Manchin, for passage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate-control provisions.

“As the climate crisis warms the Arctic,” Mr. Biden tweeted in defense of canceling the ANWR leases, “we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” conflating preservation of the Last Frontier’s natural beauty with reducing use of traditional fuels.

Shutting down ANWR, of course, won’t change consumption. It only shifts production — along with the jobs, taxes, and economic activity it brings — to nations that lack America’s standards for extracting energy with minimum pollution, which Mr. Sullivan calls “the highest … in the world.”

The result is a form of reverse environmental imperialism that clamps down on domestic producers to the benefit of other nations. Russia, for example, adopted a climate bill in June 2021 that eliminated emission quotas and removed penalties on large greenhouse gas emitters.

Canceling the ANWR leases raises energy costs while casting doubt on whether legally binding government contracts will be honored. Americans, and the planet, deserve better than dirty dealings and dirtier energy. The fuel industry can help clean up these problems, but not if Mr. Biden keeps shifting the land beneath their feet.