A U.S. Postal Service worker prepares packages for delivery during Cyber Monday in the SoHo neighborhood of New York, on Monday, November 29, 2021.
Angus Mordaunt | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The US Postal Service on Wednesday completed a final regulatory provision for its plan to replace its delivery fleet with thousands of gas-powered vehicles, moving forward with a decision that met strong opposition from the Biden administration and environmental groups.
The Postal Service manages approximately 230,000 vehicles, a third of the entire federal fleet. Earlier this month, the EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality urged the Postal Service to do so Perform updated and more detailed technical analysis He held a public hearing about her plan.
The organization has now completed the assessment, putting it on track to deliver the first new vehicles next year, which will include at least 5,000 electric vehicles.
Director General of Post Office Louis Dejoy, A Trump’s ally Nominated for the job in 2020, he pledged last year to convert 10% of his new trucks to electric power.
“Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the urgent vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our precarious financial position,” DeJoy He said in a statement Wednesday.
DeJoy added that the Postal Service could buy more electric cars under the plan if additional funding was available “from internal sources or from Congress.”
Postal service plan that would weaken the Biden administration It pledges to replace its federal fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks with electric power And cut government carbon emissions by 65% by mid-century.
Despite the recent rise in electric car Sales In the United States, the transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to climate change emissions in the country, accounting for nearly a third of all emissions each year.
By reversing its plan and electrifying new mail trucks, the Postal Service could prevent the government from burning 110 million gallons of fuel each year, according to the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice.
“DeJoy’s plans for the postal fleet will set us back decades with a truck model that offers laughable fuel economy. We may also deliver mail with a Hummer,” Adrian Martinez, senior attorney for Right to Zero, said in a statement.
“DeJoy’s environmental audit is rickety, based on suspicious accounts, and fails to meet the standards of law,” Martinez said. We are not done fighting this reckless decision.”
“Neither rain, nor sleet, nor good financial sense will stop US Postal Service leaders from trying to buy filthy, polluting delivery trucks,” Patricio Portillo, transportation analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
“For fresh air and cost savings, it’s time to get this plan back to the dispatcher,” Portillo said.
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