Name That Cause: Daryl Hannah Busted at White House Protest

Actress was among dozens who plopped down in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and refused orders to leave

By Natalie Finn Aug 30, 2011 7:55 PMTags
Daryl HannahSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Daryl Hannah made quite the splash outside the White House today.

The actress was arrested once again while defending her environmental principles, this time while protesting a planned oil pipeline that would stretch from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. She was sitting in front of Barack Obama's cozy residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.and refused three orders to move from the U.S. Park Police.

But though she was cuffed and hauled off along with nearly 100 others, the Kill Bill star took it in stride as just another day on the protest circuit.

"Sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice your freedom for a greater freedom," she presciently told Washington, D.C.'s NBC affiliate, WRC-TV, before she was arrested. "And we want to be free from the horrible death and destruction that fossil fuels cause, and have a clean energy future."

The group Tar Sands Action, which is all for decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and promoting clean-energy investments, organized today's protest against the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would pass through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas on its way to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

A smaller protest for the cause took place in Minneapolis outside the American Legion national convention, where President Obama was speaking today.

Hannah was arrested two years ago in West Virginia during a sit-in to protest mountaintop coal mining. Three years before that, she was busted while protesting the planned razing of an urban farm in Los Angeles.

The consequences of today's collar proved pretty minimal: Hannah was not officially booked on charges and was released from custody after paying a $100 fine.