The White House and EPA both called on the U.S. Postal Service to reconsider its decision to purchase gasoline powered vehicles for its new fleet on Wednesday. The USPS plan to spend $11.3 billion on as many as 165,000 new delivery vehicles over the next decade (just 10% of which would be electric) threatens to undermine President Biden’s directive to electrify the federal fleet and is, according to EPA’s sharply worded letter, “underestimates greenhouse gas emissions, fails to consider more environmentally protective feasible alternatives and inadequately considers impacts on communities with environmental justice concerns.”

White House CEQ chair Brenda Mallory also expressed “grave concerns” about the plans and warned Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee and ally, the USPS could face legal challenges if its decisions are not “grounded on sound legal footing.” The administration’s pushback follows, but was unrelated to, a report by online car insurance broker AutoinsuranceEZ finding that, per 100,000 vehicles, gasoline-powered vehicles caught fire 61 times more often than EVs in 2020. (USPS: Washington Post $, AP, Reuters, Politico Pro $, The Hill, CNBC, New York Times $; ICE car fires: E&E $, Jalopnik, Popular Science, Kelly Blue Book, CNBC)