USPS GETS FINAL SIGNOFF TO ORDER NEW DELIVERY VEHICLES

The U.S. Postal Service said it cleared the final regulatory hurdle to placing orders for next-generation mail vehicles — and getting some of them on delivery routes next year — despite pushback from the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the completion of an evaluation required by the National Environmental Policy Act is an important milestone for postal carriers who have soldiered on with overworked delivery trucks that went into service between 1987 to 1994.

The U.S. Postal Service’s fleet comprises more than 230,000 vehicles, including 190,000 local delivery vehicles that are due to be replaced.

“The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have waited long enough for safer, cleaner vehicles,” DeJoy said in a statement.

Environmental groups have pushed back because only 10% of the vehicles would be electric-powered under the Postal Service contract with the manufacturer, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense.