Republican Science! GOPer Says Riding a Bike Causes More Pollution Than Driving a Car

So “moronic state legislator of the day” is a cheap and easy excuse for a post, but this is a new-to-me innovation in the increasingly fantastical world of Republican Science. In Washington, an atrocious omnibus transportation bill has been proposed, and one of the trivial but dumb provisions is a bicycle tax to pay contribute to the transportation budget. (See Ben Scheindelman here).

A Washington bike shop owner expresses his understandable concern about this provision, noting that (in addition to the harm to Washington businesses selling bikes) this is a poor idea because it disincentivizes an environmentally friendly form of transportation.

Bike Tax supporter Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama) explains why this assumption is not accurate:

Also, you claim that it is environmentally friendly to ride a bike. But if I am not mistaken, a cyclists 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.