As a technical specialist involved daily in the certification of gasoline engines, I see the failure of the promise of ethanol-blended gasoline to wean America off foreign oil while reducing fuel costs.A recent test comparing standard non-blended gasoline with E10 and E25 blended fuel left no doubt about its failure.

In this test, the engine was fueled with non-ethanol 87 octane fuel and was tuned to meet the appropriate specifications.

The engine was then switched to E25 (25 percent ethanol, 75 percent 87 octane gasoline) and restarted. Within 20 seconds of start, the engine failed to make full power, lost speed and quickly exceeded peak operating temperature.

To prevent destruction, the engine was re-tuned to increase fuel flow 30 percent over non-ethanol blended fuel.

If the addition of ethanol requires you to increase fuel by 30 percent to achieve a power level equal to that of non-ethanol fuel, this means you will run out of gas 30 percent faster.

For example, if you once burned 10 gallons of fuel commuting to work over a two-week period, you will now run out of gas three days early. In the case of E10 you will refuel one day early. But E10 is only the first step and E25 is next.

Not only is gas costing you 200 percent more than it did three years ago, but you will soon be required by law to accept 30 percent less fuel economy.