California v. U.S. Postal Service

California, 16 other states, the District of Columbia, New York City, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and three environmental organizations voluntarily dismissed their lawsuits in the federal district court for the Northern District of California challenging the U.S. Postal Service’s review of its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Acquisitions program. The plaintiffs alleged, among other things, that even after conducting supplemental review that considered an alternative acquisition program with more electric vehicle purchases, the Postal Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to consider a reasonable range of alternatives, failing to take a hard look at the impacts of alternatives, failing to consider consistency with state and local plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and awarding contracts prior to completing environmental review. Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/states-environmental-groups-drop-lawsuit-over-us-postal-service-ev-purchase-2024-12-19/">reported</a> that the plaintiffs had decided to dismiss the lawsuits due to the Postal Service’s commitment to electrify its vehicle fleet.

The plaintiffs filed a supplemental complaint alleging that USPS’s supplemental review again failed to consider a reasonable range of alternatives and failed to take a hard look at the impacts of alternatives, including climate change impacts. State plaintiffs, led by California, also alleged that USPS failed to consider inconsistencies between the new 62% plan and plaintiffs’ laws and policies to reduce fossil fuel consumption and to electrify the transportation sector.