House Democrats Want to Know Why

Why did the USPS purchase mostly gas powered truck to renew its existing fleet of vehicles.  Electric vehicles seem to be ideal for the short haul urban trips you most mail trucks making.  Gas powered vehicles get terrible mileage with the constant stop and go driving mail personnel make every day.  The purchase, undoubtedly influenced by the Trump minion in charge, Louis DeJoy, who has been widely criticized for taking the USPS in the wrong direction--backward.

The decision to purchase gas vehicles from defense contractor, Oshkosh Defense, is contrary to the Biden administration's attempts to do something about climate change.  Carbon pollution from vehicle traffic is a major contributor to global warming emissions.  The contract is worth an estimated $11 billion over ten years to replace the post office's fleet of 230,000 vehicles.  So this contract is not chicken feed, and could make a significant difference in reducing carbon emissions.  The post office has a 122 year history of using electric vehicles to deliver the mail.  The gas engine beat out the electric motor as a means of conveyance in largely rural America.  But an  electric delivery vehicle made an experimental come back in the 1960s. [photo]  It was not until the gas-short 70s that the Post Office took electric vehicle seriously,  In 1999 the postal service's first electric fleet took to the streets of Los Angeles' Harbor City district, and helped the agency meet its alternative vehicle requirements passed into law in the early 90s.

The House government oversight committee asked the agency's inspector general on Monday  to determine if it complied with NEPA when it made the decision to purchase gasoline vehicles.  The committee said numerous stakeholders, including EPA and the White House, raised concerns about the Post Office's obligation to consider environmental impacts of its decision.  The committee also said the purchase of electric vehicles would make the Post Office a leader in environmental action. The contract does provide for the delivery of 5,000 electric vehicles by 2023, a small portion of the total number of vehicles to be delivered by Oshkosh.  The purchase conflicts with Biden's stated goal of converting all of the government's vehicle fleet to electric by 2035.  Converting the entire postal service fleet would save 135 million gallons of gasoline a year.

The postal service is not under Biden's control.  It is governed by a board of governors which is occupied by a majority of Repugnant appointees, and is headed by a Repugnant chairman, Roman Martinez. The Repugnant Postmaster claims a 10% conversion to electric is the best his agency can do given its "dire financial circumstances".  What is left unsaid is that his party has contributed mightily to the present present financial difficulties in their on-going effort to shrink government.