From Kennedy to power lines, Reid voices opinions to chamber

Some notes from a speech by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

After acknowledging the death of his friend and fellow Senator Ted Kennedy, Reid got back to being the soft-spoken, but feisty, speaker Nevadans know so well.

While speaking highly of fed chief Ben Bernanke, he had some choice words for Bernanke predecessor Alan Greenspan.

"I thought he was the biggest political hack in Washington."

Reid also took some jabs at former Sen. Patrick McCarran, D-Nev., who Reid called a racist and anti-semite.

"He wasn't a real classy guy in my book," Reid said.

McCarran made a national name for himself as a virulent anti-communist. He's also the namesake for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Reid spoke about global warming: "In my mind there is no doubt we have global warming. There is no doubt in my mind that what is causing that is fossil fuels."

But he also said he would support changing the law to make it easier to build electricity transmission lines.

Reid said it typically takes 19 years to build transmission lines and that the process is slower than building road or natural gas lines because government can use eminent domain to make way for roads and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can use eminent domain for gas lines.

It's time to do the same for electricity, Reid said, in order to connect renewable energy power sources with major populations.

"Most renewable energy is going to be produced where people don't live," he said.

On health care Reid said he'd like to get some Republican support for reform but that the process could go forward without it.

"If we want, we have the ability under what we call reconciliation to do a bill," he said.