Daryl Hannah arrested in Texas protesting pipeline

This booking photo provided by the Wood County Sheriff shows actress Daryl Hannah after her arrest in Winnsboro, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. / AP Photo/Wood County Sheriff

HOUSTON Actress Daryl Hannah of "Splash" fame was arrested in northeast Texas on Thursday, along with a 78-year-old landowner as the pair protested an oil pipeline designed to bring crude from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

"They've arrested Daryl Hannah and a rural Texas great-grandmother," said Paul Bassis, Hannah's manager.

Hannah and landowner Eleanor Fairchild were standing in front of heavy equipment in an attempt to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on Fairchild's farm in Winnsboro, a town about 100 miles east of Dallas. They were arrested for criminal trespassing and taken to the Wood County Jail, Bassis said.

Hannah has long opposed TransCanada's construction of the $7 billion pipeline, which is designed to transport heavy tar-sands crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas' Gulf Coast refineries.

"It is unfortunate Ms. Hannah and other out-of-state activists have chosen to break the law by illegally trespassing on private property," David Dodson, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email. He also said protesters were "putting their own safety and the safety of others at risk."

Bassis said he spoke to the actress Thursday evening and that there was "a strong indication" that both women would be kept overnight at the local jail.

"The streets of Winnsboro will be much safer tonight now that they've gotten that 78-year-old great grandmother off the streets," Bassis said.

Hannah — who has starred in dozens of movies, including "Kill Bill" and "Splash" — also was arrested in August 2011 while protesting the pipeline in Washington. She was one of several hundred prominent scientists and activists arrested that month.

They argue the pipeline would be unsafe because it would be carrying heavy, acidic crude oil that could more easily corrode a metal pipe, which would lead to a spill. They also say refining the oil would further contaminate the air in a region that has long struggled with pollution.

TransCanada says its pipeline would be the safest ever built, and that the crude is no dirtier than oil currently arriving from Venezuela or parts of California.

The issue became politically charged when congressional Republicans gave President Barack Obama 60 days to decide whether TransCanada should be granted the necessary permit for the pipeline to cross an international border before snaking its way 1,700 miles south to the Texas coast.

Obama, saying his administration did not have enough time to study the potential environmental impacts, denied the permit in January.

However, he encouraged TransCanada to reroute the northern portion of the pipeline to avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska. He also promised to expedite permitting of a southern portion of the pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast to relieve a bottleneck at the Cushing refinery.

TransCanada began construction of that portion of the pipeline this summer after receiving the necessary permits. Some Texas landowners, joined by activists from outside the state, have tried through various protests to stop or slow down construction.

[zebra8835]

Of course it makes more sense to use less less oil in the first place. But that being said, one of the problems is not having enough oil refineries in the first place. The refineries in Louisiana are subject to be shut down by hurricanes and others across the nation are old and antiquated. Wouldn't it make more sense to build a new refinery in North Dakota and shorten the pipeline by a thousand miles and stabilize supply issues with a modern cleaner plant that uses substantially less energy?

[nohater]

she looks awful. what happened to her? for being just 51, she looks awful and ureal. cosmetic surgery gone bad?

[KennethKrieger]

OIL IS A MINOR POLLUTANT. The whole world only uses 1.3 trillion gallons of oil a year. A cubic mile is 1.1 trillion gallons. This oil is really black gold. Can you image we use 25% of the total a year to power about 200 million vehicles here in the United State plus many other products. The math for world consumption is 85 million barrels a day X 42 to get gallons then x 365 days to get 1.3 trillion gallons. It is amazing that we power the world with about a cubic mile of oil a year. It is an amazing product. When you compare this total amount of oil to volcanoes erupting and forest fires, oil does not pollute. All the oil ever produced would cover Cape Coral Florida at 110 square miles and a mile deep. All of that oil burned at once would not harm our planet. Ken Krieger Cape Coral, Florida 239-283 7385 Cambridge is 7 square miles or about 6 years of oil a mile deep.

[john92021]

wouldn't it make more sense to put in a water pipeline to Tex? Flying and driving to Texas to stop oil consumption is hypocritical, try to use no oil so we won't need as much.

[Noval53]

How did Hannah get to the pipeline protest? By oil based fuel, along with the clothes she wears, the food she eats, etc, etc. There is no alternative fuel on earth that works without the support of fuel from oil. Any vehicle that moves you from one place to another, takes you to get food, or takes you home; requires fuel derived from oil. There's virtually nothing you can touch in any room anywhere that wasn't moved there without the help of fuel derived from oil. When there is a "real" alternative fuel to replace oil, then some day Hannah will have something to say worth listening to. Today is not that day.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

She is beautiful. I love her.

[Martha12345]

If you can't act, you can always protest.

[HollywoodHick]

Pipeline-Schmipeline. Check out the hideous botox. Fail.

[johnlockesghost]

Miss the spotlight do we, Ms. Hanna?

[Mathion]

You know"It is unfortunate Ms. Hannah and other out-of-state activists..."

Really? Out of state? The pipeline is going from CANADA TO TEXAS! What does this pinhead think? They're going to protest it from the air?

Well, no matter. Within a year after it's finished, terrorists will blow it up (or they'll be paid by oil companies to do it). After all, there's no way to secure its entire length from attack. The oil companies will profit, of course, because any disruption in any oil pipe makes prices soar.

Either way, the American people are screwed.

Do you know why they're building the pipe? So they don't have to refine the oil locally in the Midwest. They'll be able to pump it to Texas. Why's that important? Because locally obtained and refined oil never goes to an International market where the price of oil typically runs 10-20% higher (or more). That means the Midwest will no longer enjoy lower gas prices than the national average.

What, you thought they were doing this to SAVE anyone money? It will cost the jobs of those working at the local refineries, too. With no oil going to them, there's no reason to keep them open.

And the right-wing followers buy into this and support it. They put the gun to their own heads and pull the trigger because they believe their politicians and a biased media controlled by the same people who drill for the oil.

And people wonder why I call the righties psychotic.

[johnlockesghost]

Pfui! There are 100,000 miles of pipeline in this country some of which is already moving oil from Cushing, OK to the gulf coast.

[sprankles]

Clearly, you are misinformed. Midwest enjoying oil prices below national averages?? *** are YOU talking about?

Get real-- Chicago leads the country in this area and has for much of this president's tenure. Strange, considering he comes from the state of Illinois.

You are a conspiracy-theorist with a less-than-competent grasp of how things actually work.


Get a job, slob.