State Rep. Says Biking Is Not Earth Friendly Because Breathing Produces CO2

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 4, 2013 @01:55AM from the pedal-price dept.

terbeaux writes "The fact that Rep Ed Orcutt (R — WA) wants to tax bicycle use is not extraordinary. The representative's irrational conviction is. SeattleBikeBlog has confirmed reports that Orcutt does not feel bicycling is environmentally friendly because the activity causes cyclists to have 'an increased heart rate and respiration.' When they contacted him he clarified that 'You would be giving off more CO2 if you are riding a bike than driving in a car...' Cascade blog has posted the full exchange between Rep Ed Orcutt and a citizen concerned about the new tax."

1 of 976 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:RTFA by 1s44c · 2013-03-04 02:58 · Score: 0, Flamebait

And even assertion 1 is faulty.
Cyclists also pay for roads via sales and property taxes in Washington, probably reasonably close to their proportional use of same. Cyclists are more likely to use city streets over state highways (and aren't allowed on Interstates at all), occupy a considerably smaller footprint than an automobile, and impact the road surface considerably less, if at all, given their light weight.
Also they prevent the free flow of other traffic by moving slowly and they run up huge costs by getting killed and needed emergency response teams to clean up after them.