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+--- Thread: PM General says gas-guzzling mail trucks here to stay unless congress acts (/thread-11711.html)
PM General says gas-guzzling mail trucks here to stay unless congress acts - C C - Feb 8, 2022
https://gizmodo.com/postmaster-general-says-gas-guzzling-mail-trucks-are-he-1848493020
EXCERPTS: After facing fierce criticism from the Biden Administration and environmental groups over its decision to prioritize new, gas-guzzling mail trucks, the United States Postal Service wants people to know it is indeed still committed to electric vehicles… if only it had more money!
In an announcement made over the weekend, the Postal Service reiterated that its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) program would add 5,000 electric vehicles to its fleet and claimed it hoped to achieve a 70% electric fleet by the end of the decade.
Those are bold statements, considering the agency recently said it would spend $11.3 billion on up to 165,000 new vehicles over the next decade, with 90% of those powered by gas engines. In a statement, Postmaster General and USPS Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy said the agency remains committed to an “ambitious” electrification push but claimed they are hamstrung by a lack of government funding.
[...] “Given our large fiscal deficits and significant financial challenges, Congress is well aware of the additional resources that would be required if Congress would prefer the Postal Service to accelerate the electrification of our delivery vehicle fleet as a matter of public policy,” DeJoy said in his statement.
That may be the case, but if the USPS is waiting on Congress to allocate more funds when it holds the slimmest of majorities and two saboteurs seemingly willing to nuke most moderately expensive policies, they might be waiting a long time. That essentially leaves two options: begrudgingly accept adding some more debt to fund EV mail trucks or sit and do nothing.
Given DeJoy’s past record, the latter situation seems far more likely, but it also comes with potentially much graver costs. In 2019, emissions from transportation (which includes federal fleets like the USPS) accounted for 29% of U.S. emissions, according to the EPA—higher than any other source.
With air pollution potentially killing millions worldwide every year, one could (and the Pentagon has) argue emissions represent their own type of national security threat worthy of military-style mobilization. Then again, an armada of silent vans just doesn’t have the same pizazz as those trillion-plus dollar fighter jets, does it? (MORE - missing details)