Tuesday, March 5, 2013

WA Rep Says Bicyclists Cause Pollution By Breathing

Washington state Rep. Ed Orcutt (R–Kalama), a ranking member of the State Transportation Committee, is apologizing this week- for saying that bicyclists cause pollution just by breathing.

Orcutt is in favor of a proposed 5 percent tax on bicycles that cost over $500. When a bike shop owner emailed him to say the tax discourages shoppers from buying local, Orcutt responded that bike riders have an "increased heart rate and respiration," the act of riding a bike "results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider."
The Huffington Post reached out to Orcutt's office and has the story.

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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.