Carper Pushes DeJoy on USPS Electric Vehicles

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), today sent a letter to United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy calling for the agency to reverse course and adopt a cleaner, more sustainable fleet for its next generation of delivery vehicles.

Carper’s letter follows similar concerns raised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) this week. Last April, Carper pushed USPS nominees on the need for electric vehicle investments during a HSGAC hearing.

“I believe the USPS has a prime opportunity to lead the effort to address climate change by transitioning the USPS delivery fleet to electrified vehicles,” Carper wrote. “I am gravely concerned by recent communications from the EPA and CEQ that the USPS Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) provides a fundamentally flawed analysis that underestimates the long-term costs of operating and maintaining gasoline-fueled vehicles, and overestimates the costs of purchasing and charging electric delivery vans.”

Carper continued: “Should USPS move forward on the basis of that EIS, it will be taking action that is not only unwise, but will also expose the service to significant legal jeopardy. You have the ability to change paths before any vehicles are purchased.”

The full letter text can be found here.