Democrats Want Investigation Into Postal Service’s Gas Guzzlers Contract
The Postal Service estimated that the new lorries would get 29.9 miles per gallon. The Postal Service owns more than 231,000 automobiles, one of the biggest civilian fleets in the world. The Build Back Better Act, Mr. Biden’s focal point legal program, includes about $6 billion to assist the Postal Service pay for electric automobiles and charging stations. Ecological groups and other federal government agencies have actually called the Postal Service’s decision flawed, saying it relies on unrealistic assumptions– like gas at $2.19 a gallon. Congress previously this month approved a $107 billion financial overhaul of the Postal Service, and it presently is waiting for Mr. Biden’s signature.
WASHINGTON– A group of House Democrats called Monday for an investigation into a choice by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to acquire approximately 165,000 gasoline-powered mail trucks over the Biden administration’s objections that the multibillion-dollar agreement would weaken the nation’s climate objectives.
The contract, worth approximately $6 billion over 10 years, would be the Postal Service’s first massive lorry purchase in three decades.
In a letter to United States Postal Service Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb, lawmakers questioned whether the Postal Service had actually abided by a law needing environmental evaluations of significant federal actions.
Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality have stated that the Postal Service had actually made the incorrect decision to buy gas powered trucks based on a problematic environmental analysis.
The Postal Service estimated that the brand-new automobiles would get 29.9 miles per gallon. A different analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency found the lorries might achieve less than half that: simply 14.7 miles per gallon. And with the air-conditioning running, the brand-new trucks would just get 8.6 miles per gallon, the E.P. A. stated.
A Critical Year for Electric Vehicles The popularity
of battery-powered vehicles is skyrocketing worldwide, even as the general car market stagnates.
The E.P.A. said the review did not think about any feasible options to gas-powered lorries and that the Postal Service issued a contract for the automobiles prior to even finishing its flawed evaluation.
Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of your house Committee on Oversight and Reform, and other Democrats on the panel asked Ms. Whitcomb to identify if the Postal Service made “incorrect or unproven assumptions” about the environmental impact of combustion engine automobiles, consisting of ignoring their greenhouse gas emissions.
“Postal lorries serve a public function– assisting to deliver the mail 6 days a week throughout the United States– and need to do so in an ecologically sound way,” the legislators wrote.
President Biden has ordered all federal companies to phase out the purchase of gasoline-powered vehicles and buy just zero-emissions automobiles and trucks by 2035 as part of his program to speed the transition away from nonrenewable fuel sources and tackle climate change. The Postal Service, however, is an independent company that is not bound by the administration’s climate guidelines.
The Postal Service owns more than 231,000 cars, one of the largest civilian fleets worldwide. The unique white, blue and red trucks stroll the country from busy cities to quiet rural towns. An all-electric fleet would not just provide environmental benefits and help an emerging production sector, however act as a powerful sign of an administration that is figured out to speed the transition far from fossil fuels.
The Postal Service has argued it could not afford an all-electric fleet which 10 percent of the brand-new trucks would be electrical while 90 percent would be gasoline-powered.
Sue Brennan, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, stated in a declaration that the firm is dedicated to energizing its fleet and said it will “continue to pursue the acquisition” of extra electric automobiles as its financial position enhances.
The Build Back Better Act, Mr. Biden’s focal point legislative agenda, consists of about $6 billion to help the Postal Service pay for electrical vehicles and charging stations. That bill is stalled in Congress.
Ecological groups and other federal government agencies have called the Postal Service’s decision flawed, stating it relies on impractical presumptions– like gas at $2.19 a gallon. That’s well listed below the $4.33 typical gas rate Americans are paying in the wake of Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine, however it is also far lower than the typical pump cost prior to the war.
Congress earlier this month authorized a $107 billion financial overhaul of the Postal Service, and it presently is waiting for Mr. Biden’s signature. Neither the House nor Senate version, both of which passed with broad bipartisan support, included changes that would require a modification in the company’s truck contract.