Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recommended additional steps before the U.S. Postal Service adds more trucks to its fleet, the USPS is moving forward with plans anyway.
These plans include the purchase of both gas-powered and electric vehicles. Around 10 percent, or 5,000, are expected to be electric.
“After thorough review and study we determined that EPA’s request for a supplemental [Environmental Impact Statement] and public hearing would not add value to the Postal Service’s already year-long review,” said a USPS statement issued Wednesday. “It is also important to note that a supplemental EIS and public hearing are not legally required.”
Last January, President Joe Biden called for all federal vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035.
According to the USPS, the service will move forward with a “Preferred Alternative,” plan to purchase 50,000 to 165,000 right-hand drive internal combustion engine and battery electric vehicles to replace delivery vehicles nationwide over a 10-year period. USPS said this plan both meets its needs and is the most achievable considering its financial situation.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the “USPS faces challenges that threaten its financial viability,” and it is on the office’s “high risk,” list since its expenses outpace its revenues.
The USPS is not funded by the government, though it is a government agency and people in the U.S. rely on it. A decline in delivery revenues the USPS relies on and regulatory price caps on some of its products have contributed to financial woes. This month, the USPS announced an adjusted loss of approximately $1.3 billion for the first quarter of 2022, compared to an adjusted loss of $288 million for the same quarter last year.
Since the electric vehicles have a “significantly higher total cost of ownership” than gas-powered vehicles, the USPS said it could not commit to more than 10 percent of its fleet being battery-powered.
While the USPS will not go forward with the EIS and public hearing, it announced that it “completed its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process,” to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of its Next Generation Vehicle Delivery (NGDV) program.
USPS described the plan as “a fiscally and environmentally responsible plan to modernize the federal government’s largest and oldest vehicle fleet.”
The Washington Post reported that the fleet is expected to cost $11.3 billion and offers a 0.4-mpg fuel economy improvement over the agency’s current vehicles, which are typically around 30 years old and average 8.2 mpg.
According to CBS News, a letter from the EPA claimed that USPS’s greenhouse gas emissions calculations for the proposed new fleet were inaccurate. However, neither the agency nor Biden can prevent the USPS from moving forward with its plans, since it is an independent agency.
Apart from Biden, environmental activists have also championed for an electric USPS fleet.
“DeJoy’s plans for the postal fleet will drag us back decades with a truck model that gets laughable fuel economy. We may as well deliver the mail with hummers,” said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney on Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign.
Even though a small portion of the proposed fleet will be electric vehicles, the USPS said it will try to add more electric vehicles to its fleet in the future.
“As we have reiterated throughout this process, our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition,” said Postmaster General and USPS Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy. “As our financial position improves with the ongoing implementation of our 10-year plan, Delivering for America, we will continue to pursue the acquisition of additional [battery-powered vehicles] as additional funding – from either internal or congressional sources – becomes available.”
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