Businesses and investors are often subject to the whim of capricious government regulations. While appropriate oversight can be necessary and proper—beneficial for both the taxpayer and the overall business environment—when those in political office change their mind about pre-existing arrangements, they scare off investors, risk future negotiations, and ultimately hurt the people they’re supposed to represent.

Such is the case currently in Alaska’s ongoing efforts to harvest its oil and natural gas resources, where the actions of Gov. Bill Walker, an Independent, have proven increasingly vexing  since he took office in January. In his short time in office, he has introduced a number of changes that have created massive uncertainty for an industry that provides an amazingly large proportion of the state government’s revenue, some years approaching 90 percent.