(AP) The U.S. The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it has cleared the last regulatory hurdle for placing orders for next-generation postal vehicles and getting some of them on delivery routes next Year, despite opposition from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General, said that the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act’s evaluation is an important milestone for postal carrier who have continued to work with overworked trucks that were in service from 1987 to 1994.
The U.S. Postal Service’s fleet comprises more than 230,000 vehicles, including 190,000 local delivery vehicles that are due to be replaced.
“The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have waited long enough for safer, cleaner vehicles,” DeJoy said in a statement.
Environmental groups have resisted because only 10% would be electric-powered under the Postal Service contract, which was with Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer.
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Kim Frum, spokesperson for the Postal Service, stated that the Federal Register decision allows the Postal Service the right to place the first order. This will include at least 5k electric-powered vehicles and an undetermined number gas-powered vehicles.
The Postal Service believes it has fulfilled all its obligations. It is continuing to move forward despite the request of the Environmental Protection Agency to do another environmental review that examines long-term cost. Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said this month that it would be “unwise” to proceed based on a “fundamentally flawed analysis.”
“Neither rain, nor sleet, nor financial good sense will stop the leaders of the U.S. Postal Service from trying to buy dirty, polluting delivery trucks,” Patricio Portillo of the Natural Resources Defense Council said Wednesday.
But DeJoy, an ally of former President Donald Trump, said more of the electric vehicles can be purchased under the contract if additional funding “from either internal or congressional sources becomes available.”
Converting the entire fleet of Postal Service vehicles to electric vehicles would cost $3.3 billion more. Money is included in Biden’s Build Back Better plan, but that proposal remains stalled in Congress.
The new vehicles are more sustainable and have modern amenities such as climate control and safety features like backup cameras, air bags, and collision avoidance. These features are currently missing on the Grumman Long Life Vehicles.
The vehicles are also larger to make it easier to pick up parcels and packages that have been making up a much greater percentage of their deliveries even before the pandemic.
Sharp reported from Portland Maine. This report was co-authored by Matthew Daly, Washington Associated Press writer.
