NRDC, UAW Sue USPS Over Truck Purchase Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) sued the U.S. Postal Service today over its plan to buy tens of thousands of polluting trucks for its fleet rather than cleaner electric vehicles.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York says that the Postal Service failed in its environmental review, including by relying on wrong or outdated assumptions about the emissions from gasoline-powered trucks and the relative costs of electric vehicles. NRDC and UAW are asking the court to halt the purchase plan while the USPS redoes its analysis.

The following is a statement from Britt Carmon, federal clean vehicles senior advocate at NRDC:

“Let’s be frank: The Postal Service can save money and cut pollution by investing in electric trucks.

"The U.S. Postal Service’s unjustified and illegal plan to buy polluting vehicles ignores the well-supported objections from the EPA, independent analysts, labor unions, NRDC—and tens of thousands of Americans.

“The Postal Service must undertake the accurate and thorough environmental review it should have done the first time. Its error-filled, flimsy analysis should be returned to sender.”

Background

The Postal Service decided earlier this year that over the next 10 years it would purchase gasoline-fueled engines for up to 90% of its new fleet of 165,000 vehicles. These delivery vehicles will be on the road for years – or decades – to come. USPS based this plan on undisclosed and unsupported assumptions about the environmental impacts of gas-powered vehicles and the cost of buying and operating electric vehicles. Correcting those errors should give the Postal Service the accurate information it needs to justify the purchase of tens of thousands more electric vehicles.

For more details, see this blog.

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.