Washington, D.C. – The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) condemned the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) decision to procure a 90% gas-powered vehicle fleet. USPS issued its record of decision (ROD) earlier today; it can now begin procuring vehicles under its next-generation delivery vehicle (NGDV) contract with Oshkosh Defense. ZETA was additionally disappointed by USPS’s bad-faith defensive claim in its own press release stating that USPS hopes to procure more electric vehicles at a later date, considering Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s stalwart opposition to electrification throughout USPS’s procurement process
“The United States Postal Service’s ill-informed and costly decision will lock Americans into an overwhelmingly gas-powered mail delivery system for generations to come,” said Andres Hoyos, the Vice President of ZETA. “This decision directly subverts federal regulations and our international commitments—and President Biden’s executive order to electrify the federal fleet. Postal Service electrification would have generated marked cost savings for USPS, and it would have prevented billions of dollars in environmental and public health damages. It is clear that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy would have moved to electrify the USPS if he prioritized environmental stewardship—and his own fiduciary responsibilities.”
ZETA previously analyzed USPS’s error-ridden decision-making process and determined that USPS contorted its modeling and data in order to weave a false narrative that justified its decision to procure a gas-powered delivery fleet. Specifically, ZETA concluded that USPS 1) underestimated the financial and societal costs of not electrifying its fleet; 2) underestimated the technical and functional capabilities of electric vehicles; and 3) obscured the fundamental models and assumed facts in its environmental impact statement (EIS), preventing third parties from analyzing and replicating USPS’s analysis.
ZETA previously sent a letter to the USPS Board of Governors, urging them to halt the federal procurement process of NGDVs until the myriad problems and defects in USPS’s EIS were resolved. ZETA also previously coordinated with Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) to send a letter to the USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the Board of Governors, which also called on the Postal Service to supplement its inadequate EIS before initiating procurement. The letter was joined by fourteen other Senators and three Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and it was endorsed by twelve other pro-electrification partner organizations.
“Postal Service electrification can be a watershed moment for our economy, public health, and the environment,” continued Hoyos. “It will accelerate the electrification of other public and private vehicle fleets across the country by sending a clear signal that the United States’ carbon-intensive transportation system is a vestige of the 20th century. We are eager to continue engaging with our allies in the Biden Administration, Congress, and the environmental advocacy community to further intervene in USPS's procurement process.”
About ZETA
The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) is a federal coalition focused on advocating for 100% EV sales by 2030. ZETA is committed to enacting policies that drive EV adoption, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, secure American global EV manufacturing leadership, drastically improve public health, and significantly reduce carbon pollution.
