American Opinion: Cleaner Air Coming Soon with US Mail – West Central Tribune

It’s that time of year when there are more and more mail trucks cruising around the neighborhood as postmen work hard to deliver everyone’s holiday cards and packages on time.

Tribune Graphic / Forum News Service

But there is something new to celebrate this season. This week, the U.S. Postal Service announced it would spend billions of dollars to buy tens of thousands of electric delivery vehicles over the next few years. It’s a welcome change by an agency that had intended to update its aging fleet with another generation of gas guzzlers. This is also a win for public health, as it will start delivering to every corner of the country.

The Postal Service plans to purchase 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028, 66,000 of which will be electric, and by 2026 will purchase only zero-emission delivery trucks. Appointed during the Trump administration, he will electrify only 10% of his next-generation vehicles, and over the next decade he will add 165,000 gas-intensive delivery trucks with less than 9 miles per gallon. I was planning to It would have been a big mistake, given that these vehicles could be on the road he used for 30 years, polluting the air and warming the climate into the 2060s.

Nonetheless, the Biden administration, which does not directly control the Postal Service, rallied. California, New York, and more than a dozen other states, he said in April, filed lawsuits to stop buying gasoline-powered vehicles, demanding that they invest in clean, zero-emission vehicles instead. joined the

California’s intervention “played a huge role in stopping the USPS from contributing to national air pollution for decades,” said Liane Randolph, chair of the state’s Air Resources Board. said.

The Postal Service still has much more to do to fully electrify its aging fleet of more than 220,000 vehicles, but the move puts it closer to meeting President Biden’s climate goals. By 2035 he will reduce emissions cars, and he will reduce light cars by 2027. The country’s largest vehicle fleet has the potential to become the largest electric vehicle today. Instead of falling behind private companies like Amazon and FedEx, the Postal Service can pave the way to a zero-emissions future.

Postal trucks are particularly well-suited for electrification because of their low daily mileage, defined local routes, and easy recharging hours of operation. Since these vehicles serve virtually every community, electrification has far-reaching benefits, reducing fuel and maintenance costs and dependence on oil while reducing air pollution.

It seems especially important that something as ubiquitous as the whitemail truck could help pave the way for a fossil-free future in all parts of the country. neither. The new vehicles are expected to be used on the postal route in the second half of 2023.

This is a gift to welcome this holiday season and enjoy for years to come.