UPDATED (KYTX) -- Part of the Keystone XL Pipeline is going through Eleanor Fairchild's ranch in Winnsboro.
"This isn't just about my land, it's about all of our country," Fairchild, 78, said.
She and Daryl Hannah tried stopping excavators from working on her property, but the fight didn't last long. Both were charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest by Wood County Sheriff's deputies.
Some aren't impressed with the star's stunt.
"I think she's just stupid. We need those jobs, we need the oil," Judy Hale, a resident in Quitman, said. Hale and others say the pipeline is a boost to the economy.
"I don't think she's representing the people of Wood County. I think it'll create a lot of jobs that's what we are looking for," Glendon Turbeville, who also lives in Quitman, said.
Turbeville knows what it's like to deal with pipelines.
"There was one within a mile of mine and it did erupt, but the oil companies cleaned it up, every bit," he said.
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(Courtesy of Daryl Hannah Publicist) WINNSBORO, TEXAS – Actress/Advocate Daryl Hannah and Texas Great Grandmother Eleanor Fairchild released middle of the night. Daryl Hannah joins forces with Winnsboro ranch owner Eleanor Fairchild, 78, to protest against Keystone XL construction on Mrs. Fairchild's farm. A portion of Mrs. Fairchild's home and business, Fairchild Farms, has been taken through eminent domain.
On Thursday afternoon, Hannah and Mrs. Fairchild, upon waking and hearing heavy equipment and smelling fire, and inspired by an ongoing tree-sit by the Tar Sands Blockade happening on a neighboring property, blocked construction crews who have cleared large swaths of land along the controversial tar sands pipeline's route. Keystone XL will permanently bisect Mrs. Fairchild's 300 acre ranch. Hannah, whose outspoken anti-Keystone position dates back many years, expressed pride to be able to stand in solidarity with Mrs. Fairchild who is watching her home and its delicate ecosystems be destroyed in front of her eyes.
"I am standing in solidarity with the farmers, ranchers, and landowners who have been bullied, coerced, and threatened by TransCanada. Texans do not want this toxic export pipeline coming through and compromising their soil and water," she shared. "Texas has already experienced a tragic and epic drought. We cannot afford to compromise our water supply for a multinational corporation's profits."
Mrs. Fairchild, a great grandmother, has been staunchly opposed to TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project since she was first informed of it four years ago. She never signed a contract with the Canadian pipeline company, who, in turn, proceeded to expropriate her ranch through Texas' lax eminent domain legal proceedings.
Originally concerned about taking direct action, she found herself inspired yet again due to the bravery exhibited on a neighboring property by a group calling themselves the Tar Sands Blockade. Mrs. Fairchild explains, "We're all neighbors here and everyone knows everyone's business, really, so I knew the group was up to something at the tree blockade, but hearing about the young girl, Mary, on the 40-foot tall pole all alone for days, I knew I had to do something myself. I can't climb a pole like her, but I if I can raise hell by sitting down, I'm going to! What this foreign corporation's doing just isn't right."
"I couldn't be prouder to take a stand with my new inspiration, Eleanor," Hannah said. "We're rising up to defend homes here and now, because if a multinational corporation like TransCanada can come in and steal private property from Texans, then they'll do it to anyone."
