Remarkably, it is the first case in NJ that I am aware of where elected local officials rejected an opportunity to secure additional federal resources and federal oversight to cleanup their community and hold a major corporate toxic polluter accountable.
With very few exceptions, for 25 years, local officials in Pompton Lakes either have had their heads in the sand or have overtly supported Dupont and DEP (a Councilman’s wife works at DEP).
The exceptions to Dupont dominance and DEP control are former Mayor Jack Sinsimer, who created a program that required Dupont to compensate homeowners for reduced property values (for which he received death threats).
I’m well aware of the politics of company towns, where local jobs and business tax ratables often dominate environmental concerns.
Dupont has destroyed not only the health of many residents, but depressed property values and wiped out two thirds of the equity in most resident’s only asset: their homes.
Despite that devastation and betrayal, there has not been one official act by Council (e.g. a Resolution or local ordinance) seeking justice for the people hurt by Dupont, criticizing DEP for lax oversight of Dupont, or regulating Dupont and demanding that they cleanup the site.
But let me get back to last night’s travesty.
We arrived early for a 7 pm press conference and rally in front of the municipal building. It had begun to sleet pretty hard, so we asked to hold the press event in the municipal building, not only to get in out of the weather, but because the stairs were icy and dangerous for the residents to navigate.
Starting the night off on a bad note, our request was denied by the Town Business Administrator. His bad faith denial was not based on any formal policy or justified in any way, other than his own arbitrary authority. Welcome to Pompton Lakes!
As the Council hearing began, the authoritarian, manipulative, smarmy demeanor of Mayor Cole reminded me of Nurse Ratched, in “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest“.
But, as the night wore on and residents concerned with public health testified in more than 2-1 opposition to the Resolution (support was expressed by a “compact majority” of self interested real eastate, developers, and business people interested solely in making money from real estate or downtown redevelopment), a more fitting dramatic theme emerged: Ibsen’s play “An Enemy of the People”!
But, the realities of Dupont Pompton Lakes pollution are perhaps worse than Ibsen’s fictitous small town. Let’s take a peak and see.
The first inkling we get of the huge conflict soon to explode is during this Act I conversation between the Dr. and the controlling and officious Mayor Peter Stockman:
The battle lines are drawn after Dr. Stockman takes water samples and sends them to an indepedent University lab (something we don’t have in Pompton Lakes, because Dupont controls the sampling effort):Â
Dr. Stockman explains that his suspicions arose out of his diagnosis of unusual diseases associated with pollution, a suspicion he investigates and confirms via scientific methods (again, this has an echo in the epidemiological study in Pompton Lakes which found elevated cancer rates associated with Dupont pollution):
Peter Stockmann (comes in from the hall). Good morning.
Dr. Stockmann. Glad to see you, Peter!
Mrs. Stockmann. Good morning, Peter, How are you?
Peter Stockmann. So so, thank you. (To DR. STOCKMANN.) I received from you yesterday, after office hours, a report dealing with the condition of the water at the Baths.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes. Have you read it?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, I have,
Dr. Stockmann. And what have you to say to it?
Peter Stockmann (with a sidelong glance). Hm!
Mrs. Stockmann. Come along, Petra. (She and PETRA go into the room on the left.)
Peter Stockmann (after a pause). Was it necessary to make all these investigations behind my back?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, because until I was absolutely certain about if”
Peter Stockmann. Then you mean that you are absolutely certain now?
Dr. Stockmann. Surely you are convinced of that.
Peter Stockmann. Is it your intention to bring this document before the Baths Committee as a sort of official communication?
Dr. Stockmann. Certainly. Something must be done in the matter”and that quickly.
Peter Stockmann. As usual, you employ violent expressions in your report. You say, amongst other things, that what we offer visitors in our Baths is a permanent supply of poison.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, can you describe it any other way, Peter? Just think – water that is poisonous, whether you drink it or bathe in it! And this we offer to the poor sick folk who come to us trustfully and pay us at an exorbitant rate to be made well again!
Peter Stockmann. And your reasoning leads you to this conclusion, that we must build a sewer to draw off the alleged impurities from Molledal and must relay the water conduits.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes. Do you see any other way out of it? I don’t.
Peter Stockmann. I made a pretext this morning to go and see the town engineer, and, as if only half seriously, broached the subject of these proposals as a thing we might perhaps have to take under consideration some time later on.
Dr. Stockmann. Some time later on!
Peter Stockmann. He smiled at what he considered to be my extravagance, naturally. Have you taken the trouble to consider what your proposed alterations would cost? According to the information I obtained, the expenses would probably mount up to fifteen or twenty thousand pounds.
Dr. Stockmann. Would it cost so much?
Peter Stockmann. Yes; and the worst part of it would be that the work would take at least two years.
Dr. Stockmann. Two years? Two whole years?
Peter Stockmann. At least. And what are we to do with the Baths in the meantime? Close them? Indeed we should be obliged to. And do you suppose anyone would come near the place after it had got out that the water was dangerous?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes but, Peter, that is what it is.
Peter Stockmann. And all this at this juncture—just as the Baths are beginning to be known. There are other towns in the neighbourhood with qualifications to attract visitors for bathing purposes. Don’t you suppose they would immediately strain every nerve to divert the entire stream of strangers to themselves? Unquestionably they would; and then where should we be? We should probably have to abandon the whole thing, which has cost us so much money-and then you would have ruined your native town.
Dr. Stockmann. I should have ruined!
Peter Stockmann. It is simply and solely through the Baths that the town has before it any future worth mentioning. You know that just as well as I.
Dr. Stockmann. But what do you think ought to be done, then?
Peter Stockmann. Your report has not convinced me that the condition of the water at the Baths is as bad as you represent it to be.
Dr. Stockmann. I tell you it is even worse! – or at all events it will be in summer, when the warm weather comes.
Peter Stockmann. As I said, I believe you exaggerate the matter considerably. A capable physician ought to know what measures to take he ought to be capable of preventing injurious influences or of remedying them if they become obviously persistent.
Dr. Stockmann. Well? What more?
Peter Stockmann. The water supply for the Baths is now an established fact, and in consequence must be treated as such. But probably the Committee, at its discretion, will not be disinclined to consider the question of how far it might be possible to introduce certain improvements consistently with a reasonable expenditure.
Dr. Stockmann. And do you suppose that I will have anything to do with such a piece of trickery as that?
Peter Stockmann. Trickery!!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, it would be a trick – a fraud, a lie, a downright crime towards the public, towards the whole community!
Peter Stockmann. I have not, as I remarked before, been able to convince myself that there is actually any imminent danger.
Dr. Stockmann. You have! It is impossible that you should not be convinced. I know I have represented the facts absolutely truthfully and fairly. And you know it very well, Peter, only you won’t acknowledge it. It was owing to your action that both the Baths and the water conduits were built where they are; and that is what you won’t acknowledge -that damnable blunder of yours. Pooh!—do you suppose I don’t see through you?
Peter Stockmann. And even if that were true? If I perhaps guard my reputation somewhat anxiously, it is in the interests of the town. Without moral authority I am powerless to direct public affairs as seems, to my judgment, to be best for the common good. And on that account—and for various other reasons too – it appears to me to be a matter of importance that your report should not be delivered to the Committee. In the interests of the public, you must withhold it. Then, later on, I will raise the question and we will do our best, privately; but, nothing of this unfortunate affair not a single word of it—must come to the ears of the public.
Dr. Stockmann. I am afraid you will not be able to prevent that now, my dear Peter.
Peter Stockmann. It must and shall be prevented.
Dr. Stockmann. It is no use, I tell you. There are too many people that know about it.
Peter Stockmann. That know about it? Who? Surely you don’t mean those fellows on the “People’s Messenger“?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, they know. The liberal-minded independent press is going to see that you do your duty.
Peter Stockmann (after a short pause). You are an extraordinarily independent man, Thomas. Have you given no thought to the consequences this may have for yourself?
Dr. Stockmann. Consequences – for me?
Peter Stockmann. For you and yours, yes.
Dr. Stockmann. What the deuce do you mean?
Peter Stockmann. I believe I have always behaved in a brotherly way to you—haven’t I always been ready to oblige or to help you?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, you have, and I am grateful to you for it.
Peter Stockmann. There is no need. Indeed, to some extent I was forced to do so – for my own sake. I always hoped that, if I helped to improve your financial position, I should be able to keep some check on you.
Dr. Stockmann. What! Then it was only for your own sake!
Peter Stockmann. Up to a certain point, yes. It is painful for a man in an official position to have his nearest relative compromising himself time after time.
Dr. Stockmann. And do you consider that I do that?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, unfortunately, you do, without even being aware of it. You have a restless, pugnacious, rebellious disposition. And then there is that disastrous propensity of yours to want to write about every sort of possible and impossible thing. The moment an idea comes into your head, you must needs go and write a newspaper article or a whole pamphlet about it.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, but is it not the duty of a citizen to let the public share in any new ideas he may have?
Peter Stockmann. Oh, the public doesn’t require any new ideas. The public is best served by the good, old established ideas it already has.
Dr. Stockmann. And that is your honest opinion?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, and for once I must talk frankly to you. Hitherto I have tried to avoid doing so, because I know how irritable you are; but now I must tell you the truth, Thomas. You have no conception what an amount of harm you do yourself by your impetuosity. You complain of the authorities, you even complain of the government – you are always pulling them to pieces; you insist that you have been neglected and persecuted. But what else can such a cantankerous man as you expect?
Dr. Stockmann. What next! Cantankerous, am I?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, Thomas, you are an extremely cantankerous man to work with—I know that to my cost. You disregard everything that you ought to have consideration for. You seem completely to forget that it is me you have to thank for your appointment here as medical officer to the Baths.
Dr. Stockmann. I was entitled to it as a matter of course!—I and nobody else! I was the first person to see that the town could be made into a flourishing watering-place, and I was the only one who saw it at that time. I had to fight single-handed in support of the idea for many years; and I wrote and wrote—
Peter Stockmann. Undoubtedly. But things were not ripe for the scheme then -though, of course, you could not judge of that in your out-of-the-way corner up north. But as soon as the opportune moment came I – and the others – took the matter into our hands.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, and made this mess of all my beautiful plan. It is pretty obvious now what clever fellows you were!
Peter Stockmann. To my mind the whole thing only seems to mean that you are seeking another outlet for your combativeness. You want to pick a quarrel with your superiors – an old habit of yours. You cannot put up with any authority over you. You look askance at anyone who occupies a superior official position; you regard him as a personal enemy, and then any stick is good enough to beat him with. But now I have called your attention to the fact that the town’s interests are at stake -and, incidentally, my own too. And therefore, I must tell you, Thomas, that you will find me inexorable with regard to what I am about to require you to do.
Dr. Stockmann. And what is that?
Peter Stockmann. As you have been so indiscreet as to speak of this delicate matter to outsiders, despite the fact that you ought to have treated it as entirely official and confidential, it is obviously impossible to hush it up now. All sorts of rumours will get about directly, and everybody who has a grudge against us will take care to embellish these rumours. So it will be necessary for you to refute them publicly.
Dr. Stockmann. I! How? I don’t understand.
Peter Stockmann. What we shall expect is that, after making further investigations, you will come to the conclusion that the matter is not by any means as dangerous or as critical as you imagined in the first instance.
Dr. Stockmann. Oho! – so that is what you expect!
Peter Stockmann. And, what is more, we shall expect you to make public profession of your confidence in the Committee and in their readiness to consider fully and conscientiously what steps may be necessary to remedy any possible defects.
Dr. Stockmann. But you will never be able to do that by patching and tinkering at it – never! Take my word for it, Peter; I mean what I say, as deliberately and emphatically as possible.
Peter Stockmann. As an officer under the Committee, you have no right to any individual opinion.
Dr. Stockmann (amazed). No right?
Peter Stockmann. In your official capacity, no. As a private person, it is quite another matter. But as a subordinate member of the staff of the Baths, you have no right to express any opinion which runs contrary to that of your superiors.
Dr. Stockmann. This is too much! I, a doctor, a man of science, have no right to!
Peter Stockmann. The matter in hand is not simply a scientific one. It is a complicated matter, and has its economic as well as its technical side.
Dr. Stockmann. I don’t care what it is! I intend to be free to express my opinion on any subject under the sun.
Peter Stockmann. As you please – but not on any subject concerning the Baths. That we forbid.
Dr. Stockmann (shouting). You forbid! You! A pack of
Peter Stockmann. I forbid it –I, your chief; and if I forbid it, you have to obey.
Dr. Stockmann (controlling himself). Peter – if you were not my brother
Petra (throwing open the door). Father, you shan’t stand this!
Mrs. Stockmann (coming in after her). Petra, Petra!
Peter Stockmann. Oh, so you have been eavesdropping.
Mrs. Stockmann. You were talking so loud, we couldn’t help it!
Petra. Yes, I was listening.
Peter Stockmann. Well, after all, I am very glad—
Dr. Stockmann (going up to him). You were saying something about forbidding and obeying?
Peter Stockmann. You obliged me to take that tone with you.
Dr. Stockmann. And so I am to give myself the lie, publicly?
Peter Stockmann. We consider it absolutely necessary that you should make some such public statement as I have asked for.
Dr. Stockmann. And if I do not obey?
Peter Stockmann. Then we shall publish a statement ourselves to reassure the public.
Dr. Stockmann. Very well; but in that case I shall use my pen against you. I stick to what I have said; I will show that I am right and that you are wrong. And what will you do then?
Peter Stockmann. Then I shall not be able to prevent your being dismissed.
Dr. Stockmann. What?
Petra. Father – dismissed!
Mrs. Stockmann. Dismissed!
Peter Stockmann. Dismissed from the staff of the Baths. I shall be obliged to propose that you shall immediately be given notice, and shall not be allowed any further participation in the Baths’ affairs.
Dr. Stockmann. You would dare to do that!
Peter Stockmann. It is you that are playing the daring game.
Petra. Uncle, that is a shameful way to treat a man like father!
Mrs. Stockmann. Do hold your tongue, Petra!
Peter Stockmann (looking at PETRA). Oh, so we volunteer our opinions already, do we? Of course. (To MRS. STOCKMANN.) Katherine, I imagine you are the most sensible person in this house. Use any influence you may have over your husband, and make him see what this will entail for his family as well as
Dr. Stockmann. My family is my own concern and nobody else’s!
Peter Stockmann. – for his own family, as I was saying, as well as for the town he lives in.
Dr. Stockmann. It is I who have the real good of the town at heart! I want to lay bare the defects that sooner or later must come to the light of day. I will show whether I love my native town.
Peter Stockmann. You, who in your blind obstinacy want to cut off the most important source of the town’s welfare?
Dr. Stockmann. The source is poisoned, man! Are you mad? We are making our living by retailing filth and corruption! The whole of our flourishing municipal life derives its sustenance from a lie!
Peter Stockmann. All imagination – or something even worse. The man who can throw out such offensive insinuations about his native town must be an enemy to our community.
Dr. Stockmann (going up to him). Do you dare to!
Mrs. Stockmann (throwing herself between them). Thomas!
Petra (catching her father by the arm). Don’t lose your temper, father!
Peter Stockmann. I will not expose myself to violence. Now you have had a warning; so reflect on what you owe to yourself and your family. Goodbye. (Goes out.)
Dr. Stockmann (walking up and down). Am I to put up with such treatment as this? In my own house, Katherine! What do you think of that!
Mrs. Stockmann. Indeed it is both shameful and absurd, Thomas
Petra. If only I could give uncle a piece of my mind
Dr. Stockmann. It is my own fault. I ought to have flown out at him long ago! – shown my teeth – bitten! To hear him call me an enemy to our community! Me! I shall not take that lying down, upon my soul!
Mrs. Stockmann. But, dear Thomas, your brother has power on his side.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, but I have right on mine, I tell you.
Mrs. Stockmann. Oh yes, right – right. What is the use of having right on your side if you have not got might?
Petra. Oh, mother! – how can you say such a thing!
Dr. Stockmann. Do you imagine that in a free country it is no use having right on your side? You are absurd, Katherine. Besides, haven’t I got the liberal-minded, independent press to lead the way, and the compact majority behind me? That is might enough, I should think!
Mrs. Stockmann. But, good heavens, Thomas, you don’t mean to?
Dr. Stockmann. Don’t mean to what?
Mrs. Stockmann. To set yourself up in opposition to your brother.
Dr. Stockmann. In God’s name, what else do you suppose I should do but take my stand on right and truth?
Petra. Yes, I was just going to say that.
Mrs. Stockmann. But it won’t do you any earthly good. If they won’t do it, they won’t.
Dr. Stockmann. Oho, Katherine! Just give me time, and you will see how I will carry the war into their camp.
Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, you carry the war into their camp, and you get your dismissal – that is what you will do.
Dr. Stockmann. In any case I shall have done my duty towards the public – towards the community, I, who am called its enemy!
Mrs. Stockmann. But towards your family, Thomas? Towards your own home! Do you think that is doing your duty towards those you have to provide for?
Petra. Ah, don’t think always first of us, mother.
Mrs. Stockmann. Oh, it is easy for you to talk; you are able to shift for yourself, if need be. But remember the boys, Thomas; and think a little of yourself too, and of me
Dr. Stockmann. I think you are out of your senses, Katherine! If I were to be such a miserable coward as to go on my knees to Peter and his damned crew, do you suppose I should ever know an hour’s peace of mind all my life afterwards?
Mrs. Stockmann. I don’t know anything about that; but God preserve us from the peace of mind we shall have, all the same, if you go on defying him! You will find yourself again without the means of subsistence, with no income to count upon. I should think we had had enough of that in the old days. Remember that, Thomas; think what that means.
Dr. Stockmann (collecting himself with a struggle and clenching his fists). And this is what this slavery can bring upon a free, honourable man! Isn’t it horrible, Katherine?
Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, it is sinful to treat you so, it is perfectly true. But, good heavens, one has to put up with so much injustice in this world. There are the boys, Thomas! Look at them! What is to become of them? Oh, no, no, you can never have the heart—. (EJLIF and MORTEN have come in, while she was speaking, with their school books in their hands.)
Dr. Stockmann. The boys— I (Recovers himself suddenly.) No, even if the whole world goes to pieces, I will never bow my neck to this yokel (Goes towards his room.)
Mrs. Stockmann (following him). Thomas – what are you going to do!
Dr. Stockmann (at his door). I mean to have the right to look my sons in the face when they are grown men. (Goes into his room.)
Mrs. Stockmann (bursting into tears). God help us all!
Petra. Father is splendid! He will not give in.
(The boys look on in amazement; PETRA signs to them not to speak.)
