Friday, March 29

USPS Seals Gasoline-Trucks Deal, Shunning Biden EV Plea


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(Bloomberg) — The US Postal Service has authorized the replacement of its mail-truck fleet with nearly all gasoline-powered vehicles built by Oshkosh Corp. after the Biden administration unsuccessfully pushed the independent agency to increase the number of electric trucks purchased.

The move, announced in a record of decision made public Wednesday, affirms a decision by the agency to move forward with a contested plan to begin purchasing as many as 165,000 mail trucks over the next 10 years. As much as 90% of those will be fueled by gasoline instead of climate-friendly battery power, according to the plan.

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The decision allows the agency to begin purchasing gasoline-powered trucks from Wisconsin military truck maker Oshkosh Corp. under a $6 billion contract the Postal Service awarded last February. The Postal Service rejected a bid from fledgling electric-vehicle specialist Workhorse Group Inc., and resisted pressure from Biden administration officials to boost electric vehicle purchases beyond its planned 10% baseline.

The agency said its plan “is the most achievable given the Postal Service’s financial condition,” because, it said, the battery-electric option has a significantly higher total cost of ownership than its combustion-engine counterpart. However, environmentalists and energy analysts have disputed the assertion.

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The Postal Service stressed in its record of decision Wednesday that it has the flexibility to significantly boost the percentage of battery-electric trucks “should additional funding become available from any source.”

But the authorization is unlikely to be the last word on the matter.

Environmental groups are preparing to immediately challenge the move in federal court, arguing the Postal Service is illegally justifying its move with a fundamentally flawed analysis of the purchase plan that underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, relies on faulty economic assumptions and fails to consider alternatives.

Although the Biden administration has limited authority over the Postal Service because it is an independent agency, federal have found the USPS is still bound by the National Environmental Policy Act that requires analysis of major policy decisions. And federal courts have previously invalidated government leases sold to private companies after finding that analysis lacking.

The USPS “is playing a very high-stakes game” by “going against what the law requires,” Adrian Martinez, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, said prior to the announcement.

The contract calls for at least 10% of the trucks to be electric models. The Postal Service has said it is willing to accelerate the pace of electrification if it can be done in a way that is not “financially detrimental” and that it could commit to purchasing more electric vehicles “should more funding become available.”

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