Daryl Hannah Arrested for Sittin' on a Coalmine

Actress-activist cited for blocking traffic during protest against mountaintop coalmining

By Natalie Finn Jun 23, 2009 10:30 PMTags
Daryl HannahAP Photo/Jeff Gentner

Daryl Hannah made quite the splash in West Virginia today.

The actress and longtime environmental activist was arrested along with 30 others Tuesday for blocking traffic on a major highway during a sit-in to protest mountaintop coalmining, which involves blasting the peaks off the mountains to get at the deposits inside.

Police cruisers hauled off the protesters, who ultimately surrendered peacefully after plopping down on a patch of road outside a coal processing plant operated by Massey Energy Co. All, including Hannah, were released after being cited for impeding traffic and obstructing an officer.

"It's not necessary," Hannah said before she was arrested. "If you do it wisely, there are ways to use renewables. It's realistic for everybody."

The group, which also included a former U.S. senator and a NASA climatologist, had originally planned on taking their beef inside the Massey gates, but several hundred coalminers and their supporters blocked the entrance, according to the Charleston Gazette.

"Tensions were pretty high," State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous told the paper. "But nobody got hurt and we're pleased with that."

This wasn't Hannah's first ride in a cop car, either. The Kill Bill villain, who drives a truck that she fuels with recycled grease, was part of a group that arrested in 2006 protesting the bulldozing of an urban farm in Los Angeles.

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