While it would appear to some that improvement in natural gas prices will mean that the state won’t have the revenue crisis some predicted earlier this year, there is a new concern.
The co-chairman of Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group says it surrounds coal and coal prices. Bill Mai says it is something that members of the group are watching closely.
“What we’ve seen so far this year is significantly less coal going out of the state, that demand is down. And the spot prices for coal have really tailed off. Presumably if spot prices of coal stay down long enough, that will have some effect on contract prices going forward.”
Mai says coal is an important piece of Wyoming’s revenue picture. CREG will meet and make revenue projections in October. Those numbers are used by the governor and legislators as they develop the state budget.