House Democrats Demand Investigation Into Postal Service’s New Mail Truck Deal

Topline

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee asked the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general Monday to investigate the agency’s plan to replace its mail trucks with largely gas-powered vehicles, as the deal has come under widespread criticism from Democrats and the Environmental Protection Agency for its potentially harmful environmental impact.v

United States Postal Service (USPS) delivery vehicles are parked at the Sunbury, Pennsylvania Post … [+] Office on August 15, 2020.

Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Key Facts

House Democrats asked USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb to investigate whether USPS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with its deal for the new mail trucks, which required the agency to submit an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the new trucks.

The EPA has told USPS it believes the deal violated the law, calling its EIS “seriously deficient” by not addressing a number of environmental concerns and “underestimat[ing] greenhouse gas emissions.”

The White House Council on Environmental Policy also alleged USPS violated the law by drawing up a contract and committing funds for the truck deal even before starting an environmental review of its impact.

Lawmakers asked Whitcomb to specifically investigate whether USPS made “inaccurate or unproven assumptions” about how bad its new gas-powered trucks would be for the environment and whether USPS’ estimate for the cost of replacing the trucks with electric vehicles was substantially higher than the price other private companies have paid for them.

USPS has not yet responded to a request for comment, but has previously defended its contract despite Democrats’ and the EPA’s criticism of it, saying it would be too expensive to replace the mail trucks with a predominantly electric fleet and the agency is “compelled to act prudently in the interest of the American public.”

Crucial Quote

“Given the potential environmental impact of the [mail truck] contract, it is crucial that the Postal Service conduct a robust environmental analysis prior to moving forward,” lawmakers wrote. “Postal vehicles serve a public purpose—helping to deliver the mail six days a week across the United States—and must do so in an environmentally sound manner.”

Big Number

$900 million. That’s the amount of climate damage the USPS vehicle plan would cause based on the present “social cost of carbon dioxide,” EPA Associate Administrator Vicki Arroyo projected in the agency’s letter to USPS, which said the mail truck deal “systematically and substantially underestimated” the emissions from the new vehicles.

Key Background

USPS announced in late February its intention to move forward with its $11.3 billion mail truck plan despite the objections to it, which will replace its current mail trucks with up to 165,000 new vehicles over the next 10 years. At least 10% of the vehicles are slated to be electric, though the agency noted there could be additional electric vehicles purchased if USPS gets funding to do so. In addition to its potential violations of the NEPA, the Biden administration has strongly opposed the plan because it goes against President Joe Biden’s executive order directing federal vehicles to be converted to “clean and zero-emissions vehicles” by 2035. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s insistence on moving forward with the plan despite the criticism has marked the latest controversy between Democrats and the postmaster general, a longtime GOP fundraiser who’s drawn widespread opposition from Democrats in the past for his changes to the agency that have slowed down mail. Multiple Democrats have called for DeJoy to resign or be fired by the USPS Board of Governors over the mail truck controversy, though it’s unlikely a majority of board members would back his ouster.

What To Watch For

House Democrats introduced legislation last week that would block USPS’ plan by requiring any mail truck replacement plan to have 75% electric vehicles, though it’s unlikely the bill could pass the Senate. Congress did pass a sweeping USPS reform bill last week that’s aimed at improving the agency’s financial health, though it remains unclear whether USPS would use any funds that get freed up as a result on new electric vehicles.