GILLETTE - No need for Wyoming coal miners and taxpayers to be nervous about the near future. While production across the rest of the nation stagnated, Wyoming mines almost single-handedly pushed the nation's six-month total 2.3 percent over the same period the year before, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

That means that at approximately $450 million per fiscal year, Wyoming's second-largest mineral revenue source will likely maintain its 18,700 jobs in the state and keep state money handlers from eyeing an income tax.

"The base of workers at the mines has remained steady. I have not seen anybody worried about job security at the mines," said Mitch Maycock, president of First Interstate Bank in Gillette.

Maycock added that the news from the EIA seems consistent with people's attitudes toward the economy here.

In its report released Monday, the EIA estimated that coal production from the nation's mines grew by 12.7 million tons, compared to the first six months of 2003.

"The net increase, however, is almost all attributable to production west of the Mississippi River, which is 12.3 (million tons) higher, year to date, than in 2003," the EIA stated.

The report also indicated that Powder River Basin producers seem patient with a much slower price increase compared to eastern coals, perhaps as an incentive to convince more eastern utilities to make the expensive conversion to burn their western product.

Rich Bonskowski, who co-authored the report, said that while the average spot price of central Appalachian coal rose by $1 to the $60 per ton mark last week, Powder River Basin coal rose by 10 cents to $6 per ton.

"By all appearances, they (Powder River Basin producers) could probably get a bit more than they are getting right now. So it's interesting to put out the possibility that they're just being patient," Bonskowski said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The more market that Powder River Basin coal producers grab, the more people here can bank on the industry's future.

"This is our bread and butter," said M.E. Eddleman, partner of Western Cable LLC in Wright.

Western Cable repairs the mega-sized electric cables that power draglines, shovels and other earth-moving equipment at the mines. Eddleman said the company expanded its service to repair the cables that power submersible pumps in coalbed methane gas wells, but coal is still its main customer. What's good for the coal industry is good for Eddleman, his partners and 10 employees, he said.

"It's what keeps northeast Wyoming running - and the southwestern part of the state, too, for that matter," Eddleman said.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com.