UAW, green lobby sue Postal Service over ICE delivery vehicle purchase plans

WASHINGTON -- The UAW and several U.S. environmental groups on Thursday filed suits seeking to block the U.S. Postal Service plan to buy mostly gas-powered next-generation delivery vehicles, arguing it failed to comply with environmental regulations.

CleanAirNow, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club challenged USPS's plan in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, while the UAW and the Natural Resources Defense Council said they had filed a separate challenge on similar legal grounds.

The White House and Environmental Protection Agency have also asked USPS to reconsider as have many Democrats in Congress.

In March, USPS said it had placed an initial $2.98 billion order for 50,000 next-generation delivery vehicles from Oshkosh Corp. -- and had doubled its planned EV purchases from 5,000 to 10,019.

USPS said Thursday in response to the suits it had "conducted a robust and thorough review and fully complied with all of our obligations under" environmental law.

The suits argue the contract was based on an unlawfully deficient environmental analysis issued after the USPS had already decided on its plans.

USPS said previously it expects the vehicles will begin appearing on carrier routes in late 2023.

In February 2021, the USPS announced an initial $482 million contract for Oshkosh and said it could order up to 165,000 vehicles over 10 years in a deal that could be worth $6 billion or more.

The modern vehicles will replace many 30-year-old USPS ones that lack airbags and other safety equipment as well as air conditioning.

The UAW and many U.S. lawmakers have criticized USPS and Oshkosh for opting to build the vehicles in South Carolina with non-union workers rather than at a UAW-represented facility in Wisconsin.