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California and 15 other states, which want the U.S. Postal Service to buy more electric delivery vehicles, are suing to stop the purchase of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its mail delivery fleet.
Three separate lawsuits filed by 16 states and environmental groups in New York and California on Thursday are asking judges to order a more thorough environmental review before moving forward with the Postal Service’s next-generation delivery vehicle program.
Plaintiffs allege that the purchase of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will harm the environment for decades to come.
“Louis DeJoy’s gas-burning fleet guarantees decades of pollution with every postcard and package,” said Scott Hochberg, attorney for the Center for Biodiversity, referring to the postmaster general.
A lawsuit has been filed by the Center for Biodiversity in San Francisco, Earthjustice, CleanAirNow KC, and the Sierra Club. Attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia filed another lawsuit at the same venue. Another was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and United Auto Workers in New York.
All three are targeting environmental scrutiny, with the Postal Service planning to purchase up to 165,000 next-generation delivery vehicles over the next decade.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that stopping the process before it’s too late is key.
“Once this acquisition is complete, we will be stranded with more than 100,000 new gas-fired vehicles on neighborhood streets serving homes across the state and country for the next 30 years. There will be no reset button,” he said.
The Postal Service defended its actions.
“The Postal Service has conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all our obligations under the (National Environmental Policy Act),” spokesperson Kim Frum said in an email on Thursday.
The Postal Service contract calls for 10% of new vehicles to be electric, but the Postal Service claims more electric vehicles can be purchased based on financial outlook and strategic considerations.
In the $2.98 billion initial order of 50,000 vehicles, the percentage of battery electric vehicles doubled to 20%.
Environmental advocates argue that the Postal Service’s environmental review is inadequate and flawed, and that the contract represents a missed opportunity to electrify the fleet and reduce emissions.
The review process is “too cumbersome and flawed to meet the core standards of the National Environmental Policy Act,” said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney for Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign.
The Postal Service is in the process of replacing the ubiquitous delivery trucks that entered service between 1987 and 1994.
The Postal Service said new gasoline vehicles will get 14.7 miles per gallon (23.7 kilometers per gallon) without air conditioning, while older vehicles will get 8.4 mpg (13.5 kpg).
Altogether, the Postal Service has 190,000 local delivery vehicles in its fleet. More than 141,000 of these are older models that lack safety features like airbags, anti-lock brakes and backup cameras.
The new vehicles are longer to make it easier for postal carriers to pick up packages and parcels that create a larger volume fraction. They also have improved ergonomics and climate control.
The states that have sued are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District in California, the District of Columbia, and the city of New York also joined the lawsuit.
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