Daryl Hannah arrested

Actress Daryl Hannah 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. They were arrested for criminal trespassing and taken to the Wood County Jail, Bassis said.

Hannah has long opposed TransCanada's construction of the 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 e-mail. 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 indicatio” 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 was also 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 arriving from Venezuela or parts of California.