Senator Warner said today that he supports cancelling the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia in light of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a satellite news conference with Virginia reporters today, Senator Warner said the decision to cancel the lease sale was "smart" and "responsible" and will allow time for a full review of the tragedy in the Gulf.

"We don't want to see any new areas drilled until after we've had a full investigation and know exactly what happened in the Gulf of Mexico.  This disaster has revealed problems at the Minerals Management Service that we need to sort-through and correct. It also raises questions about what we should expect from the oil and gas industry, and the relationships between local, state, and federal government agencies in terms of both prevention and response."

Senator Warner supports an "all of the above" approach to ending our nation's dependence on imported oil. In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil, but today it's more than 65%. In 2008, the United States spent $475 billion on imported oil, and most of that money went to countries that don't like us.