Remember the mercury spill at the mail distribution center in Coppell last year? The spill closed the North Texas Processing and Distribution Center on Bethel Road for a week.

My suspicions were aroused that the U.S. Postal Service was involved in a cover-up when it took almost a year for the agency to respond to my open-records request.

It’s not supposed to take that long, and USPS apologized for the delay.

Ultimately, USPS gave me only 67 pages out of some 4,701 related to the spill. Officials claimed the rest were protected by attorney-client privilege and law enforcement confidentiality.

Now that The Watchdog has learned more, I accuse USPS of not only improperly withholding public information, but also keeping its own workers in the dark.

The Watchdog has learned from a former employee who provided supporting documentation to me that employees were not informed of the seriousness of the spill. They were forced to continue working in its midst, completing their shift, without being sent home early.

An unknown employee took this photo on Aug. 7, 2018, of a mercury spill on the floor at the Coppell mail distribution center. (Courtesy of Anesha Coleman)

When they returned to work the next day, workers were told to take off their shoes, put them in a plastic bag with their employee number and wear blue medical booties the rest of the day.

Booties employees had to wear after turning in their shoes following a mercury spill in 2018 at the Coppell mail center. (courtesy of Anesha Coleman)

Their footwear was confiscated because of possible contamination. They were promised money in return for their shoes.

But they had already driven home the day before and likely wore the footwear into their homes.

This information was not contained in what I was given after my original open-records request. Yet it appears to have nothing to do with attorney-client privilege or law enforcement. It’s safety information that I believe the postal service tried to hide.

Employees at the North Texas mail processing center in Coppell were ordered to turn in shoes they wore a day after a 2018 mercury spill. Forms were collected in which workers declared the value of their shoes. (Courtesy of Anesha Coleman)

‘It was everywhere’

I learned this from Anesha Coleman, a 27-year-old postal employee who left her job as a sorter after the Aug. 7, 2018, spill after she said she began suffering side effects from mercury exposure.

She’s sued the postal service in federal court. Her case was dismissed, but she’s appealing.

She showed me reports from the Coppell and Irving fire departments that show discrepancies in the amount of mercury involved.

She also provided photos of the spill taken that night by postal workers.

“It was everywhere,” she says of the mercury. “It was literally all over the plant. People were tracking it” from the loading dock inside to the sorting machines.

She said she believed some mail was contaminated.

I put these questions to USPS.

Mail contaminated with mercury from a 2018 spill at the Coppell mail center. (Courtesy of Anesha Coleman)

How much was spilled?

It’s against the law to mail mercury, but an unidentified woman mailed at least two packages containing the substance. No records indicate that anyone was prosecuted for the crime. USPS declines to say.

There’s a discrepancy about how much mercury was involved. USPS told me the sender mailed 26 pounds of mercury in one package and 22 pounds in another.

The Coppell Fire Department stated in its incident report that 25 pounds were involved.

The Irving Fire Department, which spent more time at the plant, estimated in its report that 4 gallons were involved. That would equate to 450 pounds of mercury.

USPS spokeswoman Carol L. Hunt told me this week that only a portion of the packages spilled.

“Initial press reports of 4 gallons of mercury grossly mischaracterized the amount of mercury involved,” she said. “Two 1-quarter containers (each weighing approximately 25 pounds) inside an improperly mailed package were broken. Approximately 17 pounds (or just under 2.5 cups)” spilled.

These are two packages that contained mercury that spilled throughout the North Texas mail sorting plant in Coppell. These photos were taken by employees the night of the spill. (Courtesy of Anesha Coleman)

What about the shoes?

Turning in shoes, Hunt said, “was a precautionary measure to ensure that no significant amounts of mercury were tracked outside of the facility.” The shoes were tested for trace amounts, she said. Anyone whose footwear showed trace amounts had their vehicle tested, too, she said.

All shoes were destroyed.

Was mail contaminated?

Some mail did come in contact with the substance. The mercury was removed by heating the mail, Hunt said.

“A small amount of mail that came in direct contact with the mercury was determined to exceed the amount of exposure that would allow for successful remediation ... and this mail had to be destroyed.

“The impacted customers [not the intended recipients, but the companies that prepared the mail] were notified that their mail pieces had to be destroyed.”

Open-records denial

The above information does not appear to relate to attorney-client privilege or law enforcement. Rather, it’s a safety issue that pertains to its workers and the public at large.

I scolded USPS for what I believe is its abuse of the federal Freedom of Information Act. The Watchdog should have received far more than 67 pages — and I shouldn’t have to learn this information from a whistle-blower former employee like Coleman.

But when I complained, the postal service gave me an insincere answer.

Get this. USPS says it’s my fault I didn’t get more information because I didn’t appeal when the original batch came in.

Earth to USPS: You are supposed to give us what we request the first time around. Telling The Watchdog that it’s my fault because I didn’t appeal is dishonest and violates the spirit of the federal open-records laws. It shows, possibly, that USPS knew it was withholding relevant information that could have been released eventually.

I’m going to remember this dereliction of responsibility for a long time.

How long?

Like the stamp says.

Forever.

What't the real story behind the mercury spill that shut down the Coppell mail distribution plant that serves much of Dallas-Fort Worth? (Robert W. Hart / Special Contributor)

Read The Watchdog’s first story on the mercury spill: 'It’s been a year. So, what actually happened when mercury spilled in the Coppell mail center?"

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The Dallas Morning News Watchdog column is the 2019 winner of the top prize for column writing from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The contest judge called his winning entries "models of suspenseful storytelling and public service."

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