West Wing's Ethanol Problem

In a recent episode of The West Wing, dark horse Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits) condemned ethanol on the grounds that, "Storage is a nightmare."

The West Wing is a smart television program, written by smart people with access to an enormous amount of expertise. Part of the show's appeal is its willingness to present both sides, even with highly controversial issues like the morality and efficacy of the death penalty or political assassinations. When it comes to ethanol, however, The West Wing's writers apparently believe there is only one side and it is exceedingly negative.

This was demonstrated a number of times in the show's early years, when Aaron Sorkin was in charge. In the first season, Vice President John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) was asked to break a tie vote in the Senate in favor of extending the ethanol tax incentive. He balked, since he had vigorously opposed that incentive when he was in the Senate. At the show's conclusion, President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) gives Hoynes permission to kill the incentive, and confesses, "You and I agree on ethanol, but you were the only one to say it."

The Jan. 26 episode, "King Corn" raised ethanol trashing to an entirely new level. In this episode, one of the presidential candidates, liberals as well as conservatives, and Democrats as well as Republicans, strongly object to ethanol, although in the end all but one ends up "pandering" to Iowa's caucus voters by endorsing the fuel.

A Short History of Ethanol

Ethanol is liquor. It begins with the fermentation of sugars into a weak alcohol, a process carried out by anyone who makes wine or beer. Distillation then eliminates the water. The result is 100 percent (200 proof) alcohol. Some call it White Lightning. You could drink it, although it'd knock you on your behind.

That is why Matt Santos' comment about ethanol being a storage "nightmare" was so wacky. Gasoline is a chemical stew of over 150 highly toxic chemicals. Gasoline storage systems have to protect us from gasoline. We don't need to be protected from vodka.

Ironically, the benign nature of ethanol has stunted its industrial and fuel use for almost 150 years. In 1860, ethanol was one of the nation's best-selling chemicals, used as an illuminant and solvent. When the Civil War broke out, President Abraham Lincoln imposed a $2.08 per gallon Spirits Tax to finance the war effort. Ethanol was subject to the tax. Kerosene, the first commercial petroleum product and far inferior to ethanol as an illuminant, was poisonous and thus subject to a tax of only 10 cents a gallon.

Industrial and fuel ethanol disappeared for 45 years.

In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt, seeking a competitor to Big Oil, convinced Congress to lift the Spirits Tax. The ethanol industry was back in business. By the end of World War I it was producing some 50 million gallons a year. Then the ax of Prohibition fell. Prohibition didn't actually ban industrial alcohol, but gaining a production permit was difficult because the feds feared the output would be diverted to the far more profitable illegal liquor market.

Although Prohibition ended in 1933, a legacy of that era remains. Today, just as in 1925, ethanol must be doctored with a small quantity of gasoline before leaving the biorefinery to prevent its being diverted to the liquor market. Which is why you shouldn't drink the ethanol that goes into your car.

Tone Deafness

In "King Corn," Matt Santos' liberal wife expresses her outrage at ethanol. "A billion dollars a year to make a gasoline additive," she grumbles. "A billion that could be spent on providing prenatal care, head start education, child health care."

Any politician's wife knows that federal incentives are not fungible. Eliminating an incentive for nuclear power doesn't mean that money suddenly becomes available for child care. More importantly – and here again we have an instance of The West Wing's tone deaf script – Matt Santos hails from Texas, as does former VP John Hoynes, his opponent in the primary.