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Carlson Software: A Commitment to American Made

As part of its major commitment to bring manufacturing of precision measurement instruments back to the United States, Carlson Software announced several new initiatives at their 2025 User Conference. First, American manufacturing is already under way at their Maysville, Kentucky, headquarters—a high-accuracy GNSS base station called the Carlson VASCO-B. Secondly, they have purchased an adjoining property to extend their manufacturing space and capabilities.

American-made manufacturing and assembly has now been under way at Carlson´s Kentucky headquarters for several months. Building on their years of experience in the manufacture of high-precision measurement devices at their branch location in York, UK, Carlson has now begun producing products for the North American market in Maysville, while continuing production in their UK facility for international markets.


The VASCO-B GNSS base station

To support this new American-made push, Carlson has purchased an adjacent “sister” building to their headquarters—both buildings being built in 1915, in the same design, by the same builder. Carlson has already begun work to establish manufacturing and assembly in the new building.

The first new product to be made in America is the Carlson VASCO-B, a flexible, best-in-class GNSS base station for use in permanent installations to provide RTK positioning corrections for a localized site or as part of a base network configuration. Broadcasting RTK over cellular, UHF or network and tracking all satellite constellations with Carlson´s own RTK engine, GAMA, the VASCO-B provides high accuracy positioning for the land surveying, civil engineering, machine control, GIS, and other industries.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com. 

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CEO of WV Coal Association Says Trade War With China Will Impact Coal Operations

Continuing trade conflict can and will affect West Virginia, according to state coal officials.

The CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association said on Friday, May 9, 2025, that southern West Virginia’s coal operators could be forced to cut back production if a trade war with China and other countries continues through the upcoming fiscal year’s first quarter.

He added that coal operators have so far seen shipments of coal becoming backed up at ports and mine sites.



CEO Chris Hamilton said his organization supports President Donald Trump, adding that Trump had enacted positive policies for the state’s coal industry, including the extension of 42 coal-fired plant operations. He added China is a major market for West Virginia Coal.

To compensate for high tariffs caused by the trade war between the U.S. and China, Hamilton said his group has so far responded by expanding and developing other markets for West Virginia coal.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

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White House Ends Use of Carbon Cost

The US is ending its use of a metric for estimating the economic damages from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the latest reversal of climate change policies supported by President Donald Trump's predecessors.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this week directed federal agencies to stop using the social cost of carbon as part of any regulatory or decision-making practices, except in cases where it is required by law, citing the need "remove any barriers put in place by previous administrations" that restrict the ability of the US to get the most benefit "from our abundant natural resources".

"Under this guidance, the circumstances where agencies will need to engage in monetized greenhouse gas emission analysis will be few to none," OMB said in a 5 May memo to federal agencies.

In cases where such an analysis is required by law, agencies should limit their work "to the minimum consideration required" and address only the domestic effects, unless required by law.

OMB said these steps are needed to ensure sound regulatory decisions and avoid misleading the public because the uncertainties of such analyses "are too great".

The budget office issued the guidance in response to an executive order Trump issued on his first day in office, which also disbanded an interagency working group on the social cost of carbon and called for faster permitting for domestic oil and gas production and the termination of various orders issued by former president Joe Biden related to combating climate change.

The metric, first established by the administration of former US president Barack Obama, has been subject to a tug of war between Democrats and Republicans. Trump, in his first term, slashed the value of the social cost of carbon, a move Biden later reversed. Biden then directed agencies to fold the metric into their procurement processes and environmental reviews.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

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NMA Statement on Potential Summer Power Supply Shortage

The National Mining Association (NMA) issued the following statement from Rich Nolan, NMA President and CEO, on PJM's Summer Reliability Outlook that warns of potential power supply shortages:

Rich Nolan

"PJM's summer outlook confirms an alarming reality. The nation is facing a power supply and grid reliability crisis that could leave millions of Americans without power when they need it most. It's abundantly clear the nation cannot afford to lose another megawatt of dispatchable, fuel-secure coal generation and we're grateful the Trump administration is acting aggressively to address our energy emergency."

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

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Listen to the Capacity Markets

For years, despite ever louder warnings of a rapidly approaching electricity supply shortfall, electricity markets weren’t reflecting impending scarcity. No longer.

In both the PJM and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) capacity markets, prices have exploded—an unmistakable signal to bring more capacity to the market and keep existing resources operating.

Last year, capacity payments to generators in PJM, a sort of insurance premium to assure plants are available when needed, jumped a remarkable 800% as rising power demand threatened to overtake diminishing supplies. Nearly the same thing just happened in MISO, which operates the grid and market stretching across 15 states from Louisiana up through Minnesota and into the Canadian province of Manitoba.


Capacity prices for the upcoming summer season jumped to $666.50 per megawatt-day up from $30 last year—a more than 2,100% increase. Declining surplus capacity in an already tight market is driving the jump.

Surplus capacity fell to about 2.6 gigawatts (GW), down from 4.6 GW last year. “The results reinforce the need to increase capacity, as demand is expected to grow with new large load additions,” MISO said.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

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