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Sarah Palin is alleging that White House plans to expand offshore oil-and-gas drilling are an effort to "shore up fading support" for climate change legislation and said the proposal creates roadblocks to new energy production.

"Behind the rhetoric lie new drilling bans and leasing delays; soon to follow are burdensome new environmental regulations. Instead of 'drill, baby, drill,' the more you look into this the more you realize it's 'stall, baby, stall,'" Palin wrote Wednesday night in commentary posted on the website of the National Review, a conservative magazine.

Palin – the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP candidate for vice president – pointed to the decision to cancel planned lease sales for regions off Alaska’s northern coast to allow further study. President Obama is also placing Alaska’s Bristol Bay off-limits to drilling.

"I've got to call it like I see it: The administration's sudden interest in offshore drilling is little more than political posturing designed to gain support for job-killing energy legislation soon to come down the pike," Palin writes. "I'm confident that GOP senators will not take the bait."

Click here to see a map that describes the Alaska offshore drilling strategy.

Click here to see a map that describes the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico drilling strategies.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) – a key architect of upcoming Senate energy legislation – said Wednesday that lawmakers should widen President Obama’s newly announced expansion of offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

Graham called the White House plan a “good first step” but added, “there is more that must be done to make this proposal meaningful and the game-changer we all want it to become.”

“Among the areas we still need to address – encouraging states to allow exploration by sharing a portion of the revenue raised from oil and gas drilling, opening even more areas of the Eastern Gulf to exploration, the inclusion of viable drilling sites in the Atlantic and Pacific, and expanding the list of areas we inventory for possible reservoirs of oil and gas,” Graham said.

The day after. The paper’s are filled today with stories and analyses on the Obama administration’s move to open up vast new tracts offshore to oil and gas development.

Bloomberg has this overview, which points out that the drilling plan won’t automatically lead to more drilling. In some cases the plan still needs buy-in from states and in the areas in Gulf of Mexico, congressional approval.

The New York Times meanwhile analyzes what the drilling announcement means in the grand scheme of things.

“In proposing a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, President Obama set out to fashion a carefully balanced plan that would attract bipartisan support for climate and energy legislation while increasing production of domestic oil,” the NYT reports.

“It is not clear that the plan announced Wednesday will do either.”

The Transportation Department and EPA will roll out final rules Thursday that boost car and light truck fuel efficiency.

Environmental groups that are on board with efforts to craft a compromise climate change and energy bill slammed the proposal.

Over on our main page, my colleague Alexander Bolton looks at how White House plans to expand offshore drilling are dividing Senate Democrats.

In contrast to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) lukewarm response to President Obama's drilling announcement today, House Majority Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is full embracing the plan.

A release from his office:

Cross-posted from the Briefing Room

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given a lukewarm reaction to President Barack Obama's oil drilling proposal.

Republicans offered differing responses Wednesday to new Obama administration plans to expand offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

GOP members generally called the plans too limited. But from there the GOP lawmakers’ reactions ranged from strong attacks to qualified praise.

The Obama administration is proposing to expand leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, sell leases off the Virginia coast and potentially allow development off the coasts of other southeastern and mid-Atlantic states.

Some Republicans have jumped on the Obama administration for not opening up more areas offshore to drilling in the plan announced Wednesday. But the industry response was generally more positive, which could weaken the ability of the minority party to score political points if gas prices rise as expected this summer.

Jack Gerard, the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, called the administration’s move to expand drilling off the Southeastern coastline, parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and areas off of Alaska a “positive development.”

“We appreciate the administration’s recognition of the importance of developing our nation’s oil and natural gas resources to create jobs, generate revenues and fuel our nation’s economy,” Gerard said.

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