Mercury spill affecting mail service

Cape Girardeau Post Office is facing the effects of an acute, short-term emergency -- a mercury spill.

A hazardous materials cleanup crew from Missouri Department of Natural Resources shut down the Hazelwood, Missouri, U.S. Postal Service distribution center to address the spill Oct. 26. The spill forced the temporary closure of the post office in De Soto, Missouri, as well.

Fox2 News reported a teaspoon-size amount of mercury was discovered on a table and metallic beads on a conveyor belt.

The Leader Publications news website reported around an ounce of mercury had been spilled, according to the De Soto fire chief. The news outlet reported a De Soto post office employee was taken to an area hospital as a precautionary measure.

St. Louis media outlets reported employees who were tested did not show dangerous amounts of mercury.

"Currently, remediation efforts are underway, and the facility will not be released or reopened until all industry standard guidelines and regulatory requirements are met," USPS spokesman Mark Inglett wrote in an emailed response to the Southeast Missourian. "We are in the final stages of this process, and we anticipate that the (network distribution center) will be fully open within the next couple of days."

The environmental hazard has affected mail coming to Cape Girardeau and beyond.

"It's caused delays in package delivery," said Greg Davidson, a Cape Girardeau post office worker and union representative. "Outgoing packages have been rerouted to other sorting facilities, such as Des Moines (Iowa). We have been inundated with extra trucks trying to catch up. Thousands of package deliveries throughout Southeast Missouri have been delayed. Since we have already had so much trouble delivering packages on time, this has just added to the problem."

Area post offices have been struggling in recent months with staffing issues, causing various delivery delays.

USPS forbids the mailing of any products containing liquid mercury. According to USPS' website, anyone who mails improperly packaged or prohibited hazardous material may face a penalty of at least $250 and up to $100,000 per violation. Criminal charges also could be filed.

The World Health Organization states mercury is a toxic element. The inhalation of mercury vapors can harm the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys. Consumption of too much mercury can be fatal.

Neither DNR nor USPS distributed news releases regarding the spill. Missouri DNR has issued 12 news releases since the day of the spill, but none that mention the shutting down of the post office facility for mercury cleanup. The Missouri news page for USPS has issued no formal release about the mercury spill. The EPA has issued no news releases with the search term "Missouri" since the time of the shutdowns. Messages sent to the DNR and EPA were not immediately returned Tuesday.