Actress Daryl Hannah was bonded out of jail late Thursday night from the Wood County Jail in Winnsboro Texas after being taken custody for protesting the construction of KeystoneXL pipeline.
The "Splash" fame along with Eleanor Fairchild, a 78-year landowner, whose land was taken by eminent domain for the project was arrested on Thursday for criminal trespassing and obstructing a passageway. The pair put up a protest to prevent an excavator being used to clear trees and bush in order to build the pipeline by standing in front of heavy equipment.
The protest took place outside Winnsboro, Texas, about 80 miles east of Dallas, said Hannah's agent, Paul Bassis.
Hannah, a longtime environmental campaigner 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, some 1,700 miles away. The pipeline project is reported to ship more than half a million barrels a day of oil sands-derived crude across the Canadian border into the United States.
Opponents of the pipeline point to safety concerns because it would be carrying heavy, acidic crude oil that could more easily corrode a metal pipe, which would lead to a spill. The critics also argue that refining the oil would further contaminate the air in a region that has long struggled with pollution.
The project was rejected by Obama last year on environmental and water supply grounds to avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska and 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.
However, the company behind it, TransCanada, claims the Keystone XL would be the safest pipeline ever to be built.
TransCanada released the following statement, Thursday evening :
"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."along with trying to prevent thousands of Americans from providing for their families by helping to build the Gulf Coast Project and the energy security it will provide."
Hannah, who is also facing a charge of resisting arrest, has now spoken out about the drama, She tells local news channel KLTV, "I was peacefully protesting the unwanted advances of TransCanada on Eleanor Fairchild's land. She has stated very clearly that she doesn't want them there and they insist on bullying her and taking away her land through eminent domain." "We just sort of stood in front of them (police) and held our hands in a stop motion. I'm holding my wrist because there was this private security guard... and he injured my wrist." The actress posted a $4,500 bond and was released from jail .
It's Hannah's second arrest protesting the pipeline - she was taken into custody in August, 2011, after protesting outside the White House in Washington, D.C. She was one of several hundred prominent scientists and activists arrested that month.
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