In Mike Wandler’s 40 years of working in Wyoming’s energy industry, he’s never seen a new manufacturing sector that the Cowboy State can absolutely dominate.
Until now.
Wandler, an owner of Gillette-based L&H Industrial since 1986, is predicting a boom in fuel manufacturing amid a burgeoning “nuclear renaissance.”
And he thinks Gillette can be ground zero for that nuclear explosion of processing fuel and reactors for an energy revolution he said is already in motion.
“This state could manufacture $1 billion worth of reactors that are leased globally,” he said. “Annual revenues could eventually eclipse those of coal, oil and gas.”
Wandler talked about Wyoming’s energy future while on his way to a luncheon with Gov. Mark Gordon to be honored as Wyoming’s 2026 Small Business Person of the Year by the Small Business Administration.
That’s with his L&H co-owners, and extended family, Jason Percifield, Dustin Roush and Gage Wandler.
“The recognition means you’re doing things right,” said Mike, whose company became known for manufacturing the best mining undercarriages in the world. “But it’s my other partners doing most of the heavy lifting. I get to follow my passions.”
All In Wyoming Nuclear
One of his passions is being at the forefront of building nuclear reactors in Wyoming.
Wandler is excited for L&H to build parts for companies like the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, which just broke ground on a one-of-a-kind nuclear plant near Kemmerer.
And L&H has partnered with BWXT in that company’s plans to break ground in 2028 on its $500 million nuclear plant near Gillette.
Wyoming can mine its own uranium, Wandler pointed out. And L&H can manufacture the parts needed to build the reactors that will use that processed uranium to produce power.
That project “will help us and lots of other manufacturing businesses around the state,” said Wandler. “We can be the center hub. These plants can get all their quotes from Wyoming companies for every reactor.”
Wandler noted that President Donald Trump’s administration is paving the way for this boom in nuclear power sourcing by unwinding regulatory speedbumps.
That also helps the legacy industry that already made L&H a global powerhouse — coal.
L&H Industrial co-owner Mike Wandler, with Gov. Mark Gordon and other officials after receiving Wyoming's Small Business Person of the Year award. (Courtesy Julie Mankin) 
L&H Industrial co-owners Dustin Rouch, from left, Mike Wandler and Jason Percefield. (Courtesy L&H Industrial) 
L&H Industrial co-owner Mike Wandler, left, receives the Wyoming 2026 Small Business Person of the Year Award from Gov. Mark Gordon. (Courtesy Julie Mankin) 
(Courtesy L&H Industrial)
‘Coal Is No Longer In Trouble’
While coal has been on the decline for more than a decade, that’s not the case now, Wandler said.
He knows that because of the direct impact on his business with coal producers ordering more parts and equipment, he said.
“Coal is no longer in trouble in Wyoming,” Wandler said. “People all over the world, too, are ordering parts to get their mining machines back online.
“It was the previous administration that tried to kill coal. And oil and gas would have been next.”
Mankind, he pointed out, has never stopped using any single fuel source humans have ever created except maybe whale oil, he said.
“Coal is really hard to beat as a fuel source, and they were foolish to try to kill it,” he said. “It’s safe and clean, amazingly cost-efficient and can be stockpiled.”
Nuclear power now still costs much more to produce, but that will change, Wandler said.
“With nuclear power, what we’re facing is a similar analogy to real estate,” he said. “Think of a house that was purchased 40 years ago for $40,000, and is now appraising at $500,000.
“The energy infrastructure is the same way. You can try to put it on the government, but the government will just put it back on the middle class.”
A teenage Mike Wandler, left, with Leon Wandler. (Courtesy L&H Industrial) 
Work at L&H Industrial's Sheridan facility. (Courtesy L&H Industrial) 
L&H Industrial workers install an undercarriage system on a giant piece of mining machinery at the Buckskin Mine near Gillette, Wyoming. (Courtesy L&H Industrial) 
Luke Sigman works on the NASA crawler retrofit for Gillette, Wyoming-based L&H Industrial. (Courtesy L&H Industrial)
‘Hundreds Of Reactors’
It will take time, but eventually Wandler foresees Wyoming building “hundreds of reactors” for nuclear energy.
And that will mean the price will come down closer to other fuel sources for consumers. The world is energy-hungry, he said.
“According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Wyoming doesn’t want to store the used fuel,” Wandler said. “I don’t agree with our state giving up a billion dollars a year. But that’s OK, other states will take it. We can focus on the manufacturing.”
Wandler’s dream is to actually own reactors in Wyoming, though that could be a decade away.
‘Dazzling NASA’
Wandler’s ability to envision a big future is part of what impressed the SBA about L&H Industrial.
Regional SBA Administrator Justin Everett, who works with businesses in eight states, calls L&H “a unicorn” for the way it innovates, grows, impacts the community, and develops the local workforce.
The turnover rate at L&H — founded by Mike’s father in 1964 — is just 2%.
Wandler credits his nephew, Percifield, and one of his engineers for “dazzling NASA” to the extent that L&H beat out 30 other companies bidding in 2012 to work on space-rocket launch pads.
Wandler laughs when he recalls NASA personnel being afraid to fly into Gillette on prop planes.
Easy solution — he helped attract jet service into the Northeast Wyoming Regional Airport in Gillette.
“Wyoming is the freest state in terms of regulations, and the USA is the freest country in the world,” said Wandler, who has set out to grow and diversify the state’s economy.
“Plus, being here in the middle of the country means people trust us more,” he said. “This is the absolute best place to be an entrepreneur.”
