Bonta and other attorneys general call the Postal Service's NEPA rule unlawful and ask USPS to withdraw it

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Postal Service rewrites its environmental review rules and adds exclusions for vehicle purchases and mail processing; 18 states, D.C., Harris County and New York City call the rule unlawful

On September 25, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service published an interim final rule, effective that day, that partially rescinds and rewrites its regulations for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The rule keeps only definitions, a list of routine actions that NEPA does not cover, categorical exclusions from environmental review and an emergency provision in the Code of Federal Regulations. The rest of USPS's procedures move to a standard operating procedures handbook that the rule calls nonbinding guidance. It also adds two categorical exclusions: one for buying or converting vehicles that are at least as fuel efficient and clean as the ones they replace, and one for processing network changes meant to improve performance. USPS says the rewrite follows the repeal of the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations, amendments Congress made to NEPA in 2023 and 2025, and the Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County. It extended the comment period to November 9. On November 9, attorneys general for 18 states and the District of Columbia, joined by Harris County, Texas, and the City of New York, filed comments calling the rule unlawful and asking USPS to withdraw it. They say it curtails environmental review and public participation and object to six of the rule's categorical exclusions as vague or overbroad.