Biden Admin Halts $11.3 Billion Refresh Of Post Office’s 165,000 Gas-Powered Truck Fleet, Citing Environmental Concerns

The Biden administration has tried to stop a plan by the U.S. Postal Service to replacing its aging fleet of mail trucks with 165,000 new gasoline-powered delivery trucks.

The USPS was preparing to spend up to $11.3 billion to replace the fleet, but the Biden administration has held up those plans, citing “the damage the polluting vehicles could inflict on the climate and Americans’ health”, according to The Washington Post. 

Both the EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality sent letters to the Postal Service this week, telling the USPS to rethink its plans to buy the gas-powered vehicles, the report said. The letter requested that the USPS conducts a new search for environmentally friendlier alternatives. 

The agencies also asked the Postal Service to hold a public hearing about their plans. 

Vicki Arroyo, the EPA’s associate administrator for policy, wrote: “The Postal Service’s proposal as currently crafted represents a crucial lost opportunity to more rapidly reduce the carbon footprint of one of the largest government fleets in the world.”

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy now stands at odds with Biden officials and environmentalist groups, the report continued. DeJoy’s previous plans included “only 10 percent of the new trucks to be electric and offering only a 0.4-mile-per-gallon fuel economy improvement over the agency’s current fleet,” WaPo wrote. 

If DeJoy snubs the Biden officials’ requests, environmental groups would likely sue the USPS. 

Adrian Martinez, an attorney for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, told WaPo: “It is hard to predict what courts will do, but the Postal Service’s work here is just so embarrassingly flimsy. They don’t reveal the source of the information for many of their conclusions, instead dismissing electrification outright.”

“While we can understand why some who are not responsible for the financial sustainability of the Postal Service might prefer that the Postal Service acquire more electric vehicles, the law requires the Postal Service to be self-sufficient,” USPS spokeswoman Kimberly Frum concluded. 

You can read the full report here.