One Washington state Republican House Representative has claimed that riding a bicycle actually produces more pollution than driving a car.

When a constituent wrote to State Rep. Ed Orcutt that he disagreed with Orcutt’s support for an additional tax on bikes, the representative wrote back in an email that the tax is justified because bicyclists create more pollution than motorists.

The incredibly inaccurate claim remains unverified by Orcutt, who originally offered no evidence for his claim. The Seattle Bike Blog obtained the email and published it on Saturday.

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In it, Orcutt wrote, “If I am not mistaken, a cyclists [sic] has an increased heart rate and respiration. That means that the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider. Since CO2 is deemed to be a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride.”

He also argued that motorists help pay for roads and road maintenance, while bicyclists do not, and that they should start paying their fair share.

A much more credible source, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), estimates that 4.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide are released every year by each passenger vehicle. This number, according to the European Cyclists Foundation, is ten times more than emissions related to biking.

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Source: Raw Story

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