Daryl Hannah arrested while protesting pipeline

  RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTIHOUSTON -- Actress Daryl Hannah of "Splash" fame 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, a town about 100 miles east of Dallas. They were arrested for criminal trespassing and taken to the Wood County Jail, Bassis said. Hannah also faces a charge of resisting arrest, according to jail records.

Hannah has long opposed TransCanada's construction of the $7 billion 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 email. 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 indication" 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 - who has starred in dozens of movies, including "Kill Bill" and "Splash" - also was 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 currently arriving from Venezuela or parts of California.

The issue became politically charged when congressional Republicans gave President Barack Obama 60 days to decide whether TransCanada should be granted the necessary permit for the pipeline to cross an international border before snaking its way 1,700 miles south to the Texas coast.

Obama, saying his administration did not have enough time to study the potential environmental impacts, denied the permit in January.

However, he encouraged TransCanada to reroute the northern portion of the pipeline to avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska. He also promised to expedite permitting of a southern portion of the pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast to relieve a bottleneck at the Cushing refinery.

TransCanada began construction of that portion of the pipeline this summer after receiving the necessary permits. Some Texas landowners, joined by activists from outside the state, have tried through various protests to stop or slow down construction.

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26 killed in huge pipeline fire near Mexico-US border

  EFRAIN KLERIGANCIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico -- A big fire erupted at a natural gas pipeline distribution center near Mexico's border with the United States on Tuesday, killing 26 maintenance workers and forcing evacuations of people in nearby ranches and homes.

Mexico's state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, initially reported 10 deaths at the facility near the city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas. Later, the death toll was raised to 26, including a man who was run over when he rushed onto a highway running away from the facility.

CLICK HERE to see images from the fire

Pemex said at a news conference Tuesday night that the fire was extinguished in 90 minutes and the pipeline was shut off. The pipeline carries natural gas from wells in the Burgos basin.

The company's director-general, Juan Jose Suarez, said four of those killed were Pemex employees and the rest were employed by contractors. He told reporters in Reynosa that 46 other workers were injured, including two hospitalized in serious condition. Suarez said they haven't found any evidence showing it was an attack.

Company executives said there was a gas leak, followed by an explosion, but the precise cause had not been determined.

"Why there was such leak is something that must be investigated," said Carlos Morales Gil, Pemex's director of exploration and production.

Civil protection officials evacuated ranches and homes within three miles (five kilometers) of the gas facility, which is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of Reynosa.

Authorities didn't say how many people were evacuated, but the area is sparsely populated, Tamaulipas state's civil protection director Pedro Benavides told a Televisa station.

The highway that connects Reynosa to the industrial city of Monterrey was closed to traffic, authorities said.

Egidio Torre Cantu, governor of the state of Tamaulipas, sent condolences to the victims' relatives and vowed to make sure those injured receive help for their recovery.

Pipelines carrying gasoline and diesel in Mexico are frequently tapped by thieves looking to steal fuel.

Several oil spills and explosions have been blamed on illegal taps. But thieves seldom target gas pipelines.

In December 2010, authorities blamed oil thieves for an oil pipeline explosion in a central Mexico city near the capital that killed 28 people, including 13 children. The blast burned people and scorched homes, affecting 5,000 residents in an area six miles (10 kilometers) wide in San Martin Texmelucan.

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Obama signs pipeline safety, airport security laws

  Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed legislation to toughen oil and gas pipeline regulations and another to ease airport security procedures for members of the military on official travel.

The president signed the legislation Tuesday as part of a post-holiday, back-to-business day that included approval of several other measures approved by Congress late last year.

The pipeline law aims to close gaps in federal safety regulations made apparent by a fatal gas pipeline break near San Francisco in 2010.

The airport security law will allow expedited screening for service members and accompanying family. Military travelers would have to be in uniform and would have to present their orders to benefit from the faster screening process.

The president also signed a bill authorizing spending on intelligence community operations.

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Exxon to drain oil from failed pipeline

  By MATTHEW BROWNLAUREL, Montana -- Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to use vacuum trucks to suck any remaining oil from a failed pipeline near Laurel that spilled an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude into the Yellowstone River.

Geoff Craft, the company's incident commander on the spill, said the use of the vacuum trucks should prevent any more oil from polluting the scenic waterway.

It is not known how much oil is left in the 1,600-foot section of 12-inch pipeline that runs beneath the river. Draining that piece of the company's Silvertip pipeline could begin by this weekend and take several days to complete, said Tom Livers, deputy director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The cause of the July 1 pipeline failure remains under investigation.

Hundreds of cleanup workers continue mopping up oil spread over dozens of miles downstream from the spill, and a congressional hearing on the accident is scheduled for Thursday in Washington, D.C.

About 100 people attended a community meeting on the spill Wednesday night in Laurel that was hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Landowners along the river said they were unsure what steps to take with damaged pastureland, but there were fewer complaints about Exxon Mobil's response to the spill than a similar meeting last week.

"No complaints, just questions," said Jerry Hanson of Billings, who has been unable to graze his eight llamas on land he owns along the Yellowstone.

"I've heard I should not be cultivating that land for two years," Hanson said. "No cleanup has started yet. What I'm concerned about is I've got 8 acres of pasture grass covered in some amount of oil. How much is too much? I have no idea."

A representative of the Environmental Protection Agency said soil along the river is being tested and results will be available within a week to answer questions such as Hanson's.

Only about nine barrels out of the estimated 1,000 barrels of oil that spilled have been recovered.

EPA on-scene coordinator Steve Merritt said Wednesday he did not expect that figure to increase much more.

"There's no recoverable oil flowing on the water downstream," Merritt said. "We are now very much in the shoreline cleanup mode."

On the wildlife front, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said two dead creatures have been found so far - a fish and a duck. Two toads, a snake and a bird with oil on them have been captured for rehabilitation, although some animals with small amounts of oil on them have been allowed to remain in the wild.

Gary Hammond with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the state is focused not on individual animals but on the potential for more profound damage to the river's ecology. Representatives of the wildlife agency will join crews searching the river for areas with oil beginning this week, Hammond said.

"There's a lot of places we haven't been able to get to yet," Hammond said. "We're going to be ramping up that effort."

Twenty people have reported health concerns related to the spill, said Yellowstone County Health officer John Felton. Many of those cases involved people suffering from nausea or breathing problems attributed to fumes given off by crude.

But officials say those fumes are dissipating as the oil degrades, breaks down. Felton said no one has been hospitalized and the public health risk is considered low.

Also Wednesday, Exxon Mobil submitted a revised cleanup plan after the EPA said a prior work plan from the company was incomplete.

Livers said the document was being reviewed to ensure it complies with state cleanup standards. Those standards are more stringent than federal cleanup rules.

The EPA has directed Exxon Mobil to clean up oil from the spill and remediate sections of fouled shoreline by Sept. 9.

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