United States Postal Service (USPS) workers load mail onto delivery trucks outside a post office in Royal Oak, Michigan, on August 22, 2020.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Sixteen states on Thursday sued the US Postal Service. about its plan to replace its aging delivery fleet with thousands of gasoline delivery vehicles over the next decade, alleging that the agency has not adequately accounted for the environmental damage of the vehicles. They were joined by several other government agencies and environmental and labor groups.
The lawsuits argue that the Postal Service’s environmental analysis to justify spending up to $11.3 billion on gasoline trucks, which get only 8.6 miles per gallon, was deeply flawed.
The Postal Service has about 230,000 vehicles, which is about a third of the entire federal fleet in the country. His plan to buy gas trucks would highlight that of President Joe Biden commit to replace federal fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks with electric power and reduce government carbon emissions by 65% by 2030. The administration has committed to cutting US greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half by the end of the decade and transitioning the economy to zero net emissions by 2050.
In February, the EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality urged the Postal Service to perform an updated and more detailed technical analysis and hold a public hearing on your plan.
However, the Postal Service later that month completed a final regulatory requirement that would allow it to take delivery of the first of the new vehicles next year. The agency’s plan converts just 10% of its new trucks to electric power, far short of promises from Amazon and UPS, which have large delivery fleets.
The lawsuit alleges that the plan violated the National Environmental Policy Act and should be set aside. The lawsuit argues that the Postal Service’s gas vehicles would prevent states from keeping their own promises on climate change.
“The Postal Service has a historic opportunity to invest in our planet and our future,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. said in a statement. “Instead, it’s doubling down on outdated technologies that are bad for our environment and bad for our communities.”
“Once this purchase is complete, we will have more than 100,000 new gas-guzzling vehicles on neighborhood streets, serving homes across our state and across the country, for the next 30 years,” Bonta said. “There will be no reset button.”
Despite the increase in electric vehicles sales in recent years, the transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the country, accounting for about a third of total emissions each year.
Postal Service spokesman Kim Frum said the agency “conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all of our obligations under NEPA.”
“We must make fiscally prudent decisions in the necessary introduction of a new fleet of vehicles,” Frum wrote in an email. “We will continue to look for opportunities to increase the electrification of our delivery fleet in a responsible manner, consistent with our operational strategy, the deployment of the appropriate infrastructure, and our financial situation, which we expect to continue to improve as we progress through our plan.”
Joining the state of California in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont. , and Washington; as well as New York City and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Two separate lawsuits were filed by environmental groups CleanAirNow, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club, with legal representation from Earthjustice; and by the Natural Resources Defense Council with the United Auto Workers.