Everyone who meets Eleanor Fairchild will tell you that she doesn’t seem like she’s a day over 50. She turned 78 last month. A year ago on her 77th birthday she was arrested along with 1,252 other people during the peaceful sit-ins in front of the White House to stop Keystone XL. She has done everything she can to prevent the destruction of her land by TransCanada, dreading the day when they would start plowing through her 300 acre farm outside Winnsboro, Texas.
That day came this last Saturday when, unannounced, TransCanada arrived on her land with heavy machinery and began tearing up the ground and clear-cutting every tree in their path. She heard the roar of the machinery from inside her home and rushed toward the machines to stop them, but at that point there was nothing she could do but watch them destroy her beloved farm.
Eleanor knows what’s at stake with the Keystone XL. When she first heard the words “Keystone XL” she started researching and was horrified to learn the contents of the toxic sludge they wanted to pump through the pipes. Her land is home to lush wetland ecosystems and multiple natural, fresh water springs that flow with over 400 gallons of fresh water every minute. Every last drop of it stands to be poisoned by this toxic pipeline.
Knowing the risks to her land and her safety she refused to sell any of it to this multi-national corporation and never signed a single contract. So they took it from her. Unable to acquire her land through the coercive tactics TransCanada had used on countless other landowners they expropriated it through eminent domain.
“I hate to see my land torn up, but I realize at this point that there’s nothing I can do,” she said. “I’m concerned about everyone’s land because a lot of people are being hurt a lot more than I am, and it just breaks my heart.”
In the end it’s going to take a lot more than TransCanada’s bulldozers to deter a brilliant, tough spirit like Eleanor’s, and in the meantime she’ll be waiting in her home and praying for them to go away.
This is why we blockade. We’re here to stand with landowners like Eleanor who feel they don’t have any options left to defend their homes.
Join us at our upcoming Direct Action Training October 12-14th and large public event on October 15th to take a stand.
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Kim Feil
October 3, 2012 at 2:14 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
1) never signed to sell land/trees for poisonous dilbit (reportedly killed 11 others in one mobile home park near the Kalamazoo Michigan spill)
2) got arrested in DC with 1,200 others in sit-in protest in front of White House
3) was never told the date tresspass/eminent domain would occur as promised
4) land taken, trees cut, poison pending-foreign company…ANY QUESTIONS?
Tsandi Crew
October 3, 2012 at 2:21 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Everyone suffering the same problems or ones like them at the hands of Transcanada, should contact Obama and ask for him to reconsider.
Crash
October 3, 2012 at 5:32 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thank you for the link. I wrote: Dr. Mr. President: Please address the mistake you made in condoning the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline. As I write, TransCanada is destroying wetlands, springs, and some of the very few old-growth forests in Texas. Proteters are being abused and denied their constitutional rights. I am a big supporter of yours and will be in this election. However, you lost the vote of my 22 year-old daughter, who most likely will not vote for you this time. Many in her generation are rightly concerned about the future of the planet they are inheriting– more than jobs, more than the economy. As one XL Blockade poster reads “There are no jobs on a dead planet.” As a biologist, she is more concerned that she will have to tell her children that we used to have coral reefs and polar bears, and explain why they are no more. Please, do something, at least meantion it.
Xochitl
October 3, 2012 at 5:24 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I could sense the rage and sorrow in her voice. I most likely would have, if it were my land, shot at one of them because someone was trespassing on my land. Hey, nobody notified me they were coming and I would have felt threatened and was only protecting myself. Yep, I’d go to jail! I probably wouldn’t care much.
Victor
October 3, 2012 at 6:49 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
A lot of people say that Xochitl. When time comes, no one does it.
Nancy sharp
October 3, 2012 at 10:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
When protestors are arrested, what are they charged with? Trespassing? If so, a trial would be a good forum for litigating the illegal occupation of the land by Keystone Pipeline Company. It could generate more publicity for the cause. I am a retired Public Defender and am willing to assist in research if you need help.
Jeniffer Sams
October 3, 2012 at 11:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
This is heartbreaking and it makes me angry! We need to do something! I am watching them tearing down trees which can’t be undone! This is insanity! I’m sorry!
rc & E
October 4, 2012 at 1:08 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
We love you, Eleanor! Thank you for _everything_ you’ve done.
BG, Oklahoma
October 4, 2012 at 3:34 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
TransCanada’s actions are both infuriating and heartbreaking. There is a big trail of officials, high-ranking and petty, who supported the invasion by this foreign corporation. Despicable decisions! How can they sleep at night?
I watched TransCanada representatives as they deployed their bullying tactics in a courtroom. I assume these tactics were just to reinforce whatever they had already done behind the scenes.
I am faxing Pres. Obama tonight as his phone comment line is almost always busy. FAX to Obama 202-456-2461
Obviously encircling the White House wasn’t a sufficient gesture of opposition to the KXL. Landowner rights and environmental protection are not esteemed as highly as the ferocious, sometimes murderous, clout of the oil industry..
Huge thanks to the brave protesters in Texas.
Paty Steward
October 4, 2012 at 6:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I, too, wrote the White House…..
http://youtu.be/g6judRWzB18
Please, please…Mr. President,
Look at all sides of this pipeline before you takeaway the homes and livelihoods of those who live along a path a company has chosen to profit from at their expense…..you owe them that much.
You stated you have made a commitment to green energy and yet we continue to go forward with these projects that ultimately may lead to irreversible destruction to this beautiful land of ours.
If we are to be forward thinking than we must set higher goals for ourselves and those who come after us.
I appreciate your time and truly appreciate what you have done for our country and her citizens in your lifetime…
Thank you for listening and please take a moment to watch this woman’s story on You Tube.
Sincerely, Paty Steward
MICHELLE BARLONDSMITH
October 4, 2012 at 9:15 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Eleanor … I am so sorry to see this happen … we will keep fighting … call me … and I like that idea of faxing OBAMA …202 456 2461
Tom Weis
October 4, 2012 at 10:45 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
What’s happening to Eleanor is an outrage. KXL must be stopped. Please sign our “Open Letter” (http://www.rideforrenewables.com/2012/09/an-open-letter-to-president-obama-and-governor-romney-on-keystone-xl/) – signed by Eleanor and numerous farmers, ranchers and indigenous leaders up and down the pipeline route – calling on Obama & Romney to withdraw their support for Keystone XL. Spread the word!!
Jeff
October 5, 2012 at 12:34 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I was also arrested at the Tar Sands Action, Eleanor. I’m sorry I’m not able to make it down there to help on this one. Keep up the good fight!!!
Lynda Duke
October 5, 2012 at 9:15 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
CLEAN WATER is far more important than oil/coal/gas. GIVE THIS WOMAN BACK HER PROPERTY! NO to EMINATE DOMAIN!!!!
Barbara Rierson
October 7, 2012 at 1:59 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Remember this has Hilary’s fingerprints all over it. Check her connections with these people & the fact that State had to approve this insanity. Shameful.
Debating, Activist Style: Tar Sands Blockade and Walmart Strikers (VIDEO) | FavStocks
October 4, 2012 at 9:12 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] see a video of land owner Eleanor Fairchild, talking about her experience with Keystone, at at this Blockade link. A year ago on her 71st birthday she was arrested along with 1,252 other people during the peaceful [...]
Actress Daryl Hannah Arrested With East Texas Great-Grandmother for “Trespassing” on Her Own Farm » Tar Sands Blockade
October 4, 2012 at 10:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] land along the controversial tar sands pipeline’s route. Keystone XL will permanently bisect Mrs. Fairchild’s 300 acre ranch, which includes undeveloped wetland areas and natural springs producing over 400 gallons of fresh [...]
Daryl Hannah Arrested for Protesting Keystone Pipeline in Texas | Politicol News
October 5, 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Hannah, other activists and Eleanor Fairchild were arrested while on Fairchild’s property while attempting to block construction who were burning trees on her 300 acre farm which includes wetlands and natural springs that produce 400 gallons of clean spring water per minute. This is a vi… [...]
Daryl Hannah and landowner arrested for defending property - KeepYourAssets.net
October 7, 2012 at 4:50 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] of land along the controversial tar sands pipeline’s route. Keystone XL will permanently bisect Fairchild’s 300 acre ranch, which includes undeveloped wetland areas and natural springs producing more than 400 gallons of [...]
Keystone XL Blockade: Defending the Land from Tar Sands Oil | WilderUtopia.com
October 24, 2012 at 4:24 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Fairchild, a great-grandmother, has been staunchly opposed to TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project since she was first informed that it will [...]