"The Postal Service plans to spend up to $11.3 billion on a fleet of delivery trucks that get 8.6 miles per gallon"

"A top House Democrat told senior U.S. Postal Service officials Tuesday that the agency “needs to go back to the drawing board” on an $11.3 billion plan to replace its aging delivery vehicles with up to 148,000 gas-guzzling trucks despite directives from the Biden administration to make the federal fleet more “green” and opposition from environmental regulators.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairing a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, accused the mail service of ignoring “its responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet.” She said there was compelling evidence that the Postal Service made faulty calculations in deciding to purchase gas-powered trucks that get 8.6 miles per gallon — an 0.4 mpg improvement over the current 30-year-old fleet — rather than battery-powered vehicles.

The hearing reignited efforts from congressional Democrats to pressure Postmaster General Louis DeJoy into transitioning his agency’s fleet to zero-emission trucks, or to grant the agency funding to purchase cleaner vehicles."

Jacob Bogage reports for the Washington Post April 5, 2022. [2]