Fracking, Ibsen and New York City Drinking Water

The Sweeter Theater Company in New York commissioned me to write a play -- a modern, "green" version of Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People. Little did I know that the topic I picked for contemporization -- hydraulic fracturing or "fracking", a controversial way of drilling for natural gas -- would explode in headlines across the country from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. The debate is especially fervent in upstate New York, which provides drinking water for millions.

I think it's pretty clear that Ibsen didn't intend for Enemy of the People to be an environmental debate. He was out on a rampage against the tyranny of the majority. When Arthur Miller adapted the play during the McCarthy Era he was interested in this aspect, but this didn't ring true to me in current culture. Of course, modern corporations and governments silence the truth, but that's been done in movies like Erin Brokovich or The Insider. And frankly, in this information age, it seems the public is overly aware of what is happening across the country, and there has been a slow chorus of "hell no!" rising in the air.

What stood out to me was this: the conflict in Ibsen's Enemy wasn't a peon employee against a faceless corporation; it was between two siblings. One who sees one truth -- about the necessity of protecting public health and providing clean water, and one who sees another -- the devastating financial implications of local jobs and industry lost to regulation. It's personal, it's gritty, it's what every American experiences at the dinner table when Uncle Democrat and Cousin Republican get together to break bread.

This is about people, and it's about moral choices. When you have a country where one family member is drilling for offshore oil and another is earning their keep fishing in the same waters, the drama is real -- and devastating. And Ibsen was all about making people pay attention, especially to the moral inconveniences hidden just beneath the surface. That's why I decided to re-title my adaptation of Ibsen's play Fracturing.

While writing this play, I learned that there are many sides to each argument and tried to humanize each character. However, I find myself increasingly alarmed by the real threat that fracking poses. There is validity to economic need, job protection, and the honesty of who we are as an energy consuming culture. But the long term value of clean water and clean beaches is being subsumed by this short term interest of procuring fossil fuels.

I keep thinking of the people in the gulf who want to keep drilling, even as oil washes up on their shores. They now have few other options for making a living. This cycle can wreak havoc with fracking, just as it does with oil, on the resources of New York and the rest of the country; we must recognize the value of what we have before it is lost. Every single New Yorker needs to know that their drinking water is at risk.

Fracturing is running in New York City on the Lower East though July 18th.

 

 

 

Comments

[ElectronoftheOne]

09:18 PM on 07/14/2010

Thank you for distilling this down to the real ethical, moral meat of the issue and presenting it as art. The dependence of our economy and our culture on fossil fuels is THE profound dilemma of our time. My grandparents knew a time when it was not so, and I hope my grandchildren will, as well.

[rougebaisers]

04:20 AM on 07/15/2010

At some point, take the Gulf disaster for instance, we are going to have to side with and end to deep water drilling and the health of our environment rather than Billy Bob needing his job back at the expense of it all. What is indeed scarier is what FRAC drilling is doing in a neighbourhood right near you in Everywhere America. The Madness Must End.

[ElectronoftheOne]

06:12 PM on 07/15/2010

NY's university system has directed its community colleges to create curriculums to train students for gas industry jobs that the industry (and NY, too, apparently) are determined to create here. Once they're here, then preserving those jobs will be the argument for continuing to drill. And the cycle goes on.

(I imagine the illegal drug industry and the child porn industry also employ a number of workers, so would that be reason to allow them to continue?)

Nice video, by the way. There's another anti-fracking song at this site:
http://sustainabletompkins.org/programs/marcellus-challenge/

[Netflyer]

06:39 PM on 07/14/2010

Man, I just watched 'Gasland' and believe me, Fracking is worth understanding before you sell your land to the drillers. To get at the hard to get natural gas they drill down and pump the Earth full of toxic chemicals, only about 1/2 of which come back out. The process shatters rock and apparently there have been many cases where the fracture goes into the water table. All the fuss is about natural gas getting into the water table as a side effect of fracking. People were able to light their running water on fire right out of the faucet. They could go to a local stream and light the water on fire on the stream.

The play sounds very interesting and I wish much success with it!

I hope everyone investigates Fracking before they jump on the Natural Gas band wagon. It is not green. not green in production and not green in use. If you have a chance try to see the 2009 documentary, Gasland.

[rougebaisers]

08:27 PM on 07/14/2010

YES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neEx9rM2jCY

[Deanna Neil]

09:55 PM on 07/14/2010

Creepy video, rouge. Is that a real song? Who is it by? And I agree Netflyer, Gasland is illuminating. Our director had the cast watch it when they were learning the play. I get upset thinking of the people who signed up who didn't know what they were getting themselves into. The duping of the public infuriates me. It happens over and over again. People should at least be told what they are getting and make a decision from there, with honest information. But that's a whole other blog.