16 states, D.C., climate activists sue USPS to block its truck purchase

Sixteen states, the District of Columbia and environmental activist groups are suing the U.S. Postal Service to block its purchase of 148,000 gas-guzzling delivery trucks over the next decade, alleging the agency has vastly underestimated the vehicles’ costs and adverse ecological impact.

The suits brought on by the state attorneys general, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council contend the mail service relied on faulty assumptions and miscalculations to justify spending as much as $11.3 billion on gas-powered vehicles that get 8.6 mpg, which is only incrementally better than the 30-year-old vehicles now in use.

Postal officials hoped the truck procurement would go smoothly and signal that the mail agency was evolving to meet new business opportunities and joust with its private-sector rivals. But the agency’s purchase plan would have only 10% of the new fleet dedicated to electric power, well below benchmarks set by FedEx, UPS and Amazon. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Transportation is the single biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States, but electrical vehicles have yet to make significant inroads. EV proponents had hoped the Postal Service contract would provide a lift for electric automobiles, which account for about 5% of all new-vehicle purchases.

Though there’s wide consensus on the necessity of new mail trucks, the deal the agency struck with Oshkosh Defense in 2021 was criticized by environmental groups, which said its marginal commitment to EVs was insufficient. Meanwhile, organized labor groups chafed at the company’s decision to move manufacturing away from unionized shops.