Democratic politicians in Colorado and New Mexico haven’t denounced Mr. Biden’s land grab, but we doubt they will extend his leasing ban to state and private land. Revenue from the oil and gas industry last year provided about a third of New Mexico’s public school funding and helped to finance college scholarships.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday all but begged Secretary of Energy nominee Jennifer Granholm for reparations to compensate for the government’s fossil-fuel destruction. “People feel like they’ve been left behind. In those areas that have been ravaged because of the market changes, how do we keep them in an opportunity situation?” he said. “What can the Department of Energy help those areas with?”

Progressive hostility to fossil fuels is driving these “market” changes. First the Obama Administration punished the coal industry with regulation. Shale fracking then helped revive West Virginia and much of Appalachia. Now Mr. Biden is trying to destroy these jobs too.