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Dear John,
Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is at it again.
Despite the recent victory passing the Postal Service Reform Act which repeals unnecessary expenses designed to bankrupt USPS and requires six-day-a-week delivery service, our work to save the USPS from the failed leadership of Louis DeJoy is not over.
Here’s the latest development: The Postal Service finalized plans in February to purchase up to 148,000 new mail delivery trucks from Oshkosh Defense. More than 90% of these trucks would be powered by gasoline fueled combustion engines expected to get 8 miles per gallon.
To make it worse, the Wisconsin company immediately moved production to South Carolina so they could build the trucks with non-union workers. And that’s not even the worst of it. It has been widely documented that frontline Black and brown communities bear the brunt of pollution from heavy trucks with combustion engines.
The good news is we can stop Louis DeJoy from implementing this plan. Rep. Gerry Connolly’s new bill, the Green Postal Service Fleet Act of 2022, blocks DeJoy’s bad deal. The contract can’t go forward unless the fleet is made up of at least 75 percent electric vehicles. The bill already has 68 co-sponsors.
It’s time to get every member of Congress in the House and Senate on board and pass the bill before a single vehicle rolls off the assembly line. Send a direct message to your members of Congress and demand they Block DeJoy’s Bad Deal! The USPS contract must require at least 75% electric trucks.
Louis DeJoy’s decision to sign a $11.3 billion contract for non-union built trucks with the fuel efficiency of a Hummer is poor management, and directly defies the Biden administration objections that the multibillion-dollar contract would undercut the nation’s climate goals.
President Biden has set a goal of converting all federal cars and trucks to clean power, and Postal Service vehicles make up a third of the government’s fleet already. As the Environmental Protection Agency’s Vicki Arroyo said in a letter to USPS:
“The Postal Service’s proposal as currently crafted represents a crucial lost opportunity to more rapidly reduce the carbon footprint of one of the largest government fleets in the world.”
Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. If the deal goes forward as it stands, that’s another 20-30 years of toxic pollution locked in by the USPS. We must stop this madness.
Tell Congress: Block DeJoy’s Bad Deal! The USPS contract must require at least 75% electric trucks.
Every community across the U.S. benefits from a strong USPS, and the postal service is a lifeline for rural populations, including communities that live in poverty and for people with disabilities.
Stopping this bad contract from moving forward is an opportunity to push for what’s right; we have the power to make decisions that will not disenfranchise rural communities and exacerbate the climate crisis. Let's do it.
The time for action is now. Thank you for making sure Congress hears from us today.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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