Actor Robert Redford thanks Obama for stopping Keystone XL

Iconic actor Robert Redford thanked U.S. President Barack Obama today for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Redford is also a staunch environmentalist and a trustee of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Today marks a huge turning point in our fight to leave a better future for our children and generations to come,” the actor said in a statement.

“People all over the country banded together to demand a stop to this short-sighted, destructive fossil fuel project. Thank you, to the President and all those who rallied against the pipeline.”

Redford starred in such critical and box office successes as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President’s Men and Out of Africa, among many, many others.

This year, along with Nick Nolte, Redford played in an adaptation of noted non-fiction writer Bill Bryson's book, A Walk in the Woods.

Redford has received two Academy Awards, one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People; the other in 2002 for Lifetime Achievement.