The Toxic Avenger takes on New Jersey

My family and I caught a really good show last night, The Toxic Avenger, at the New World Stages theater complex in New York City. It's a pretty hysterical 90-minute musical comedy with a blazing rock score, but there's an underlying serious tone to the play, especially so for New Jersey residents like me. New Jersey is portrayed as more Garbage State than Garden State, with toxic dumps, befouled air, and other environmental atrocities.

The main character, Melvin Ferd III, lives in a fictional place called Tromaville, at the fake Exit 13B off the New Jersey Turnpike. The Good Earth Corporation, run by the town's highly corrupt, despicable mayor, has turned part of the town into a toxic dumping ground. When Melvin sets off to clean up Tromaville, he's dumped by a couple of goons into a vat of chemical sludge, then emerges as a disfigured superhero. I won't reveal too much of the play, but the photo shows some of the talented cast singing "It's a Brand New Day in New Jersey!" at the end of the show.

As much as my family and I laughed our heads off and enjoyed the show, when I drove home on the turnpike within a few miles of where Tromaville would be, I wondered whether all the fun-poking at New Jersey is merited.

I'm not naive about the environmental problems New Jersey faces. Four days a week on my way to and from work, I drive past a spot on the turnpike around Newark where the air takes on an odd stench (probably from some chemicals) and, I kid you not, there's now a billboard for The Toxic Avenger.

But when I checked out the state and city rankings of air pollution from the American Lung Association (latest figures are for 2007), there were plenty of metropolitan areas whose air quality was worse than New Jersey's. Don't get me wrong, New Jersey still gets some ignominious top-25 positions in the different air-quality categories. But many metro areas apparently are worse off than Jersey, including some in Utah and Oregon, which you might expect to have cleaner air.

I've still got some work to do on the brownfields/toxic sludge angle and will do research on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Site Remediation Program site. Already I'm concerned, based on this statistic my daughter showed me: "At any one time, the NJDEP oversees some 23,000 contaminated sites. An estimated 10,000 of these are potential brownfield sites."

Where's the Toxic Avenger when you need him?—Steven H. Saltzman | e-mail | Twitter

Essential information: If you're concerned about oil tanks or hazardous contamination at a property you own or plan to buy, read this post about Environmental Data Resources. And visit the Environmental Protection Agency site to get more details on waste and pollution and air quality. If you're concerned about the air inside your home, use our buyer's guide to air purifiers.