Opposing view: Raise standard to 60 mpg

America's oil addiction is putting our wallets at the mercy of Big Oil and volatile foreign countries. As high gas prices continue to burn through Americans' paychecks, it is clear that cutting our country's dangerous addiction to oil will require building better, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

OUR VIEW: 56 mpg could be a bridge too far

President Obama has a historic opportunity before him to move America beyond oil by proposing new fuel-efficiency and tailpipe-pollution standards for cars and light trucks. By setting a standard of at least 60 miles per gallon for vehicles made in 2025, the president can slash the amount of gas our new vehicles will need in half by 2025, providing real savings for American families at the gas pump and put us on the road to energy security.

But auto industry lobbyists such as the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers are standing in the way, and they have launched a public relations campaign built on misinformation and spin, citing the same old arguments for why they can't innovate. Industry lobbyists have balked at potential standards of even 56.2 mpg and 56.5 mpg by 2025 in their recent negotiations with the Obama administration. American carmakers have the technology today to get to at least 60 mpg, but European carmakers are already outpacing us — they're set to reach a standard of 60 mpg by 2020.

To their credit, GM, Toyota and Hyundai have gone on the record to say they can meet a strong standard, and GM has said that "the industry can do anything it wants when it puts its mind to it."

Eighty-three percent of Americans support 60 mpg cars, according to a poll by the Mellman Group, and increased consumer demand for more efficient vehicles fueled Ford's largest first quarter profits in more than a decade. Better fleet-wide fuel-efficiency standards will raise the efficiency of all new vehicles, providing safer, better and plentiful choices to consumers.

The choice is whether we spend our dollars on technology and in our economy or send them overseas for oil. We need a 60 mile per gallon standard that will put American innovation and technology to work, saving families billions at the pump and creating jobs while cutting pollution and improving energy security.

Ann Mesnikoff is the Sierra Club's director of green transportation.