States Suing USPS Over Buying Gas-Powered Mail Trucks

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, and New York, are among 16 States Suing the US Postal Service (USPS) over its Multibillion-dollar Plan to buy Thousands of Gas-powered Mail Trucks. The Lawsuit alleged that the Plan failed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Standards.

The Lawsuit was filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California, by the 16 State Attorneys General.

In the filing, the States said that the USPS had been given a "tremendous opportunity to convert its fleet to zero-emission, electric vehicles," but alleged that the Contractor it selected, Oshkosh Defense, was Not experienced enough to carry this out.

The Lawsuit follows an Internal Review of USPS' Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Program. The filing claimed the Review was "cursory."

In February 2021, the USPS awarded an initial $482 million dollar Contract to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense to begin delivering up to 165,000 New Trucks, over the next 10 years, in what the USPS described as a multibillion-dollar investment. At the time, it said 10% of its Fleet, would be Electric.

Last month, the Biden Administration urging the USPS Not to go through with the $11.3 billion plan. The letter said that the Service: "underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, fails to consider more environmentally protective feasible alternatives and inadequately considers impacts on communities with environmental justice concerns."

In March 2022, the Company placed an order for 50,000 vehicles, including around 10,000 Electric Vehicles.

In its Statement, USPS said: "The contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, meaning that after an initial dollar commitment, the Postal Service will have the ongoing ability to order more Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) over a fixed period of time, in this case, 10 years delivering up to 165,000 vehicles over the next decade."

The USPS said it was fully committed to the inclusion of Electric Vehicles as a significant part of its Delivery Fleet, even though the Investment would Cost more than an internal Combustion Engine vehicle. It added that it needed to make "fiscally prudent decisions" in the introduction of a New Vehicle Fleet, however.










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