If you ’re not totallysoldon the United States Postal Service ’s new , flattened duck’s egg - shaped , gas - power monstrosity of amail truck , you ’re not alone . The Biden administration on Wednesday made a last - minute of arc plea to staunch the USPS ’ fleet , claiming the Modern trucks ’ ridiculously pitiful fuel efficiency would further aggravate the climate and hinder the government ’s power to contribute on carbon copy - neutral transport efforts .
In a pair of letters first report on by The Washington Post , The Environmental Protection AgencyandThe White House Council on Environmental Qualityurged The Postal Service to re - measure its decision to buy mostly accelerator pedal - power fomite . A unsuccessful person to wire these vehicle threatens to uproot President Biden’spledgeto phase out gas - burning vehicle in federal agencies and purchase 100 % zero - emission vehicle for the federal fleet by 2035 .
For context , the USPS conducted anenvironmental impact statementlast year where it weighed several unlike possibilities around tot electric vehicles to the new fleet butultimatelydecided on a 90/10 % split of gas and electric car - powered vehicle .
Image: Patrick Fallon (Getty Images)
Those new gas pedal - powered vehicles were n’t on the nose hyper - efficient though . According to the Post , those theorise upgrades would only put up a .4 - mile - per - gallon fuel saving improvement over the current 30 - year - old fleet . With melodic line conditioning on , these young clunkers would reportedly average around 8.6 knot per gal . That ’s bad than an original Hummer H1 . The cost was spy as the USPS ’s main reason for opting to go the mostly natural gas road .
Regardless , the USPSannouncedit had struck a heap with Wisconsin - found defense contractor Oshkosh last February , which would see the agency drop around $ 11.3 billion on up to 165,000 unexampled vehicles over the next decade , with a $ 482 million initial investiture .
Now , however , the EPA in its letter tell its environmental fear “ were not adequately addressed , ” and that the USPS ’s net environmental encroachment financial statement , “ remain gravely deficient . ” compose more broadly , Vicki Arroyo , the EPA ’s Associate Administrator for Policy , warned the shift to absolute majority gas - operated vehicle could hinder the U.S. government ’s attempts to transition its fomite off from fossil fuel .
“ The Postal Service ’s proposition as presently craft represents a essential lost opportunity to more rapidly trim back the carbon paper footprint of one of the big regime fleets in the world , ” Arroyo wrote . “ A ten - percent committal to clear vehicle , with virtually no fuel efficiency gains for the other 90 percent is plainly discrepant with outside , national , and many state GHG emissions reduction targets , as well as specific interior insurance policy to move with deliberate f number toward white , zero - give out vehicles . ”
The letter went on to criticize the USPS ’s methods for determine the cost of an electrification movement and the feasibleness of operating a mostly galvanizing fleet . In a command to the Post keep an eye on the varsity letter , a spokesperson for the USPS stuck to its guns and say it simply could not afford the investiture necessary to in full electrify its vehicles .
“ While we can understand why some who are not creditworthy for the financial sustainability of the Postal Service might favour that the Postal Service acquire more electric vehicles , the law requires the Postal Service to be self - sufficient , ” the spokesperson said .
The alphabetic character sparked renewed critique of USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy who sign off on the newfangled fomite . Late Wednesday , Virginia House Representative Gerald Connolly , a Democrat in charge of the House subcommittee overseeing the United States Postal Service , called for DeJoy ’s resignation , claim he was mucking up the Biden governing body ’s mood schedule .
“ This is immediately counter to the goals both Congress and the president has set to have an emissions - free Union fleet , ” ConnollytoldThe New York Times . “ I would bonk for him [ DeJoy ] to release and if he wo n’t free , I want the board of governors to fire him . ”
Connolly went on to call for an supervising listening to reexamine the USPS ’ contract with Oshkosh . As an option , Connolly told the Times he would support an amendment that would quarrel the authorities ’s contract with Oshkosh or one that compels the USPS to buy electric vehicles .
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