A senior Democrat in the House of Representatives told senior U.S. Postal Service officials Tuesday that the agency “needs to go back to the drawing board” to come up with a $11.3 billion plan to upgrade its aging delivery vehicles despite Biden directives -Replacing the administration by up to 148,000 gas-guzzling trucks to make the federal fleet “greener” and resistance from environmental authorities.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (DN.Y.), chairing a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, accused the Postal Service of “ignoring its responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet.” She said there was compelling evidence the Postal Service made erroneous calculations when it decided to buy gas-powered trucks that achieve 8.6 miles per gallon – a 0.4mpg improvement over the current 30-year-old fleet – and non-battery powered vehicles.
The hearing ignited efforts by congressional Democrats to pressure Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to switch his agency’s fleet to zero-emission trucks or give the agency funds to purchase cleaner vehicles.
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It could also provide potential courtroom opponents of the Postal Service with significant material for a legal challenge. The five-member panel before the committee included experts who made affidavits critical of the Postal Service’s plans and rationale. Environmental activist groups have signaled for months that they could legally challenge the agency’s procurement, arguing that the postal service’s conclusions are based on flawed assumptions.
“I will not back down until the Postal Service finally follows the example of the private sector and begins a real transition to an electric fleet,” Maloney said. “The transition to electric is imperative for our environment, for the bottom line of the postal service, and for our national security.”
“We learned a lot today about mistakes and inconsistencies that seem to go straight to the heart of this unusual decision that is so at odds with what the private sector is doing,” added Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) of the most important Proponents of climate legislation in Congress.
DeJoy placed the order for the first 50,000 replacement vehicles on March 24; Electric vehicles accounted for 20 percent of that purchase, although the agency has pledged to electrify only 10 percent of vehicles purchased during the life of the 10-year contract.
The Postal Service’s plan falls far short of White House goals to convert the entire federal civilian fleet to electric vehicles by 2035. The Postal Agency’s 217,000 vehicles make up the majority of the government’s civilian vehicles.
Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and even increasing sales of electric vehicles — which account for about 5 percent of new vehicle sales — have yet to make a significant dent in the auto market. EV advocates had hoped the purchase of the postal service would give the industry a boost.
Victoria Stephen, director of the Postal Service’s “next-generation delivery vehicle” program, told the committee that the agency has purchased as many electric vehicles as its current financial conditions will allow. The agency has $131 billion in unfunded liabilities — even after Congress passed legislation in March to relieve its balance sheet by $107 billion in past due and future payments. President Biden is expected to put this law into effect on Wednesday.
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“We have deferred maintenance, we have deferred investment,” Stephen said. “Not only vehicles have to be replaced long overdue. There are structural infrastructure related things that are part of what the postal service needs to operate effectively and efficiently and for decades to come.”
Policy makers on both sides of the political aisle agree that the postal agency’s aging trucks are unsafe and in dire need of replacement. The fleet is 30 years old and has no airbag or air conditioning. The trucks have been known to catch fire from years of overuse.
The agency is also in the midst of DeJoy’s 10-year transformation plan to refocus the postal service on its growing parcel delivery business and eliminate years of financial losses.
But Liberal lawmakers dismissed that position, saying the agency’s private competitors Amazon, FedEx and UPS were already way ahead of the Post in fleet electrification. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
Stephen said comparisons to these companies are unjustified as postal vehicles have to stop and start more frequently on their routes than competitors’ trucks.
Witness Joe Britton, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said the drive cycle instead makes the postal routes even more suitable for electric trucks.
“Starting and stopping, especially if you have strong regenerative braking, gives you more range when driving around town, especially in use cases where you start and stop every 20 or 30 feet,” he said.
Republicans on the committee attempted to steer the hearing into a discussion of Hunter Biden, the president’s son who was involved in the 2016 sale of a Congolese cobalt mine to a Chinese conglomerate. Rep. James Comer (Ky.), the top Republican on the panel, invited Hunter Biden to testify; Instead, Kenny Stein, policy director of the right-wing Institute for Energy Research, testified at the invitation of the GOP.
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“When we talk about the transition to electric vehicles, rare earth minerals are a crucial element of it,” Comer said, noting that US domestic production of resources needed for vehicle batteries lags far behind China’s.
Democrats urged Stephen to give the committee records of the Postal Service’s analysis of how many electric vehicles it will buy and said they would try to include funding for the electric trucks in future legislation.
The Biden administration’s original “Build Back Better” social spending package included $6 billion for electric mail trucks and battery chargers. Biden’s proposed budget for 2023 includes $300 million for electric mail vehicles and charging stations.
“If the funding were made available to us, we would absolutely adjust our plans,” Stephen said. “Our current plans reflect what we can afford on our own.”
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