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An American lawmaker has said cycling is bad the environment. He also said cyclists should pay a tax to ride their bikes the roads. Ed Orcutt, a representative Washington State, sent an e-mail to the owner of a local bike shop to outline his thinking. He wrote: "A cyclist has an increased heart rate and respiration. That means that the act riding a bike results greater emissions carbon dioxide the rider. Since CO2 is…a greenhouse gas…cyclists are actually polluting when they ride." Mr Orcutt said: “You can’t just say that there’s no pollution as a result riding a bicycle….You would be giving more CO2 if you are riding a bike than driving a car.”

Mr Orcutt also believes cyclists should be taxed to use the roads. He said it was unfair that motorists have to pay all the costs building and repairing roads. He wrote: "Currently motorists are paying to use their cars the roads…so if cars pay the roads they are using, it only makes sense that bicyclists would also be required to pay the roads they use when they are actually biking them." Dale Carlson, owner the Tech Bike Shop said Mr Orcutt's ideas were wrong. He wrote: "People who choose to ride a bicycle instead driving a car actively reduce congestion." He added: "They save wear and tear our roads and bridges, and reduce the [need police] to patrol our highways."