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The United States Forest Service (USFS) just announced that quarrying and preparation of granite, to be used in the National D-Day Memorial, is ongoing through a joint effort between that U.S. federal forestry agency and Cold Spring Granite, the company quarrying the stone.  Environmentalists have been very quiet about this project up to now.

This new war memorial, located in Bedford, Virginia, will be dedicated "to the sacrifices of the Allied Armed Forces who landed in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944."  The D-Day Memorial's Foundation was organized to establish a memorial complex, consisting of a National Monument, Amphitheater and an Education Center, that commemorates and preserves the legacy of D-Day.

According to a USFS press release,"The National D-Day Memorial will use 360 tons of green granite quarried in the Superior National Forest, Minn., to form the memorial’s 40-foot high 'Victory Arch,' and tons more of the striking granite were used to fashion a life-size landing craft and other features of the memorial."  

The D-Day Memorial project will also use the green granite in a two-story education building and amphitheater now being designed.   Paving, benches and other parts of the memorial already make use of the green granite.

This special green granite is composed of large crystals of quartz, feldspar and large amounts of green minerals.  The granite was formed over millions of years as the materials underwent high temperature and pressure and then rapid cooling.   The source quarry for the granite is producing 40,000 to 60,000 cubic feet of the prized green granite per year.  The Forest Service collects royalties from the quarrying operation for the U.S. Treasury.  Twenty-five percent of the royalties are returned to the state of Minnesota.