March 9, 2021

Big West Oil, LLC has owned and operated its North Salt Lake Refinery since 1985. For 35 years, Big West Oil has provided quality jobs and products to serve the community. The company is proud to be locally owned and committed to its neighbors.

As this newsletter goes to press the Utah legislature is in the very final days of session, which will close at the stroke of midnight Friday, March fifth. Thanks to COVID-19 safety precautions, this has been the most open and also most opaque session with hybrid online and in person participation options, lots of masks and obsessive hand sanitizing. While there is still much that can happen to determine the fate of many bills yet to work their way through the process, we can confidently share a number of highlights.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden and his Administration placed an open-ended moratorium on federal oil and natural gas leasing and initiated a review on a number of other natural resource activities including making the electric grid carbon-free, increasing royalty rates, and much more. We expect this to be but the first of many actions like this from Washington, D.C. .

With the FDA’s issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for multiple COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines becoming more widely available, many U.S. employers, eager to safely transition employees back to work or transition workplaces back to normal, are considering implementing vaccine recommendations or mandates in the workplace. The fluidity of the pandemic has yielded yet another decision point for employers — can employees be required to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment?

As you have doubtless heard, the Biden administration has been hurriedly progressing their policy agenda, starting on day one with the Department of Interior Order 3395 and swiftly following with an Executive Order from the president himself on tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad . While we share in the mission to set forth a sustainable vision for future generations, we clearly have a different definition of “sustainable.” Let’s unpack what these actions mean for Utah.

The first quarter of 2021 has brought challenges and opportunities to the oil and natural gas industry, both upstream and downstream. Many of these we were ready for, while some we could not have anticipated. I remain encouraged by our industry’s resolve in the face of hardship and our tireless dedication to providing the resources we all depend on every single day. I doubt any of us were sad to see 2020 draw to a close, but that isn’t to say when the calendar page turned, all of the problems of the previous year went with it.

One thing I think about frequently that has come into sharp focus recently is the disconnect between living our daily lives and actually understanding what makes our daily lives possible. This isn’t even necessarily a criticism but an unusual side effect of modern living. I authored an op-ed in the Deseret News recently that started thusly: