Daryl Hannah arrested for protesting proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline
Daryl Hannah: The star of "Splash" and the "Kill Bill" movies was arrested outside the White House in an oil pipeline protest. Daryl Hannah is a longtime environmentalist who has previously been arrested for green causes.
Actress Daryl Hannah is arrested by US Park Police in front of the White House in Washington on Aug. 30, during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline.
Evan Vucci/AP
It makes sense that an actress who played a mermaid would be concerned about the environment. “Splash” star Daryl Hannah was arrested on Aug. 30 during a protest organized by a group called Tar Sands Action against the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline extension.
Ms. Hannah joined about 100 other protestors to sit on the sidewalk outside the White House, refusing to move – channeling her tough character Elle Driver in the “Kill Bill” movies, perhaps. She has been arrested for other environmental causes and told the Associated Press, “We want to be free from the horrible death and destruction that fossil fuels cause, and have a clean energy future.”
Hannah was fined $100 and released.
Would this story even have been buzzworthy without a celebrity moniker attached? When eco author Bill McKibben was imprisoned last week for protesting the same project, his name wasn’t trending on Yahoo! or Google. The fact is, boldfaced names work in getting attention for a cause.
Proposed in 2008, the 1,661-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline extension would send oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma, and on to the US Gulf Coast. It is opposed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups, 50 members of Congress, celebrities like Hannah and actress Margot Kidder, all concerned about impact and air and water pollution due to possible leaks.
Ms. Hannah is an organic gardener and strives to “carbon-neutralize” herself by living in a house that is off the grid and driving a bio-diesel El Camino. She even has a “green” video blog called “dh love life” that features her doing things like visiting a vegan junk food joint, exploring an eco-home, and spending time with mountain gorillas in Rwanda.