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OUR TH YEAR www.slenterprise.com February 8, 2021 Volume , Number 29 $1.50 5O Biden's oil & gas order misguided, locals say Weber & Davis — from both sides of the political spectrum Counties John Rogers — to start fl owing in from stakeholders, in- The Enterprise cluding those in Utah. pages 15-18 Biden signed executive orders late last It didn’t take Pres. Joe Biden very long Sponsored by: month pausing mineral leasing along with following his inauguration to begin grant- new mining, drilling and fracking activi- ing the wishes of his liberal base, includ- ties on federal lands for one year. The order ing a number of decisions that affect the came a few days after the president signed oil, gas and mining industries. And it took a moratorium that put drilling and fracking even less time for the reaction to his orders on hold for 60 days and is framed as fulfi ll- pages F1-F8 ing his campaign trail promises to combat GOLF climate change. Biden’s platform called for Biden's action met the U.S. to phase out its dependence on fos- PAGE 15 sil fuels. with bill in Senate, In Utah, reaction to the president’s or- ders were strong and predictable, with new- energy group lawsuit ly elected Gov. Spencer Cox leading the ex- Sponsored by: Utah’s two U.S. senators, Mitt pressions of outrage from the state’s elected Romney and Mike Lee, have joined offi cials. 22 other Republican senators in spon- “Unity in our nation can only be soring a bill in the U.S. Senate to stop reached when we work together to solve Pres. Joe Biden’s recent executive or- complex challenges,” Cox said in a state- der indefi nitely pausing any new oil ment released just hours after Biden signed and gas leasing on federal public lands. his order. “I’m disappointed in President The bill, the Protecting our Wealth of Biden’s decision to indefi nitely pause all new oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Energy Resources Act (POWER) of Ongoing oil and gas extraction, such as this His action was taken without coordination 2021, led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, in Duchesne County, will continue, but new R-Wyoming, would prohibit the pres- with the state to determine how his decision energy development on federal lands has been ident or his secretaries of the Interior, would impact rural Utah and those that live put on hold by an executive order from Pres. Agriculture and Energy departments there.” Joe Biden. from blocking energy or mineral leas- Biden’s order does not limit ongoing ing and permitting on federal lands oil, gas and mining operations on existing and waters without Congressional ap- leases but bars startup activity on public proval. lands. That means that activities the admin- Qualtrics IPO see LAWSUIT page 22 see BIDEN page 23 raises $1.55B If the results of Qualtrics’ initial public offering and early trading of the company’s Mendenhall highlights business stock mean anything, German software gi- ant SAP got a real deal when it swooped in and bought the company for $8 billion two goals in State of City address years ago. Qualtrics priced its shares at $30 when it went public on Jan. 28, putting its tech business — bringing more of these valuation around $15 billion, up more than Brice Wallace high-paying, fast-growing jobs to our city 87 percent from the amount SAP paid in The Enterprise and connecting our residents to them,” the the acquisition. By the end of the fi rst day mayor said. of trading, Qualtrics shares were going for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Menden- The need for the city to be a ma- $45.50, valuing the company at more than hall is getting plaudits for her goal to make jor player in life science innovation was $27 billion. the city a high-tech hub. “brought into sharp focus” during the CO- In late 2018, Qualtrics announced that That was among the business-related VID-19 pandemic, she said. If the city can it was going to go public, but SAP halted elements that were part of Mendenhall’s reach that goal, it would bring “incredible” that initial attempt at an IPO by purchas- recent State of the City address. The may- long-term employment opportunities for ing the experience management technolo- or also wants to establish a city department the city, “as well as offi ce environments gy company. This time around, the Qual- to streamline projects, push for housing af- that utilize lab space and more permanent trics IPO raised $1.55 billion on the Nasdaq fordability across all income levels, boost investment,” she said. technology stock exchange. apprenticeships in project contract awards, The city last year collaborated with In its pre-IPO fi lings, Qualtrics re- bolster business and cultural districts in local biotech and life sciences companies ported $550 million in revenue for the nine the city and work to improve environmen- and public- and private-sector partners months ended in September (up from $418 tal sustainability. to launch BioHive, a branding initiative million in the same period the prior year), “Part of our commitment includes tapping into Salt Lake City’s growth to help make it a hub for innovative high- see MENDENHALL page 22 see QUALTRICS page 22 2 • February 8-14, 2021 • The Enterprise - Utah's Business Journal COVID-19 AND UTAH - NEWS AFFECTING YOUR BUSINESS & YOUR EMPLOYEES on the platform’s additional detailed information that will SBA improves PPP loan application assist in the resolution of fi rst draw PPP loan review and Co-Diagnostics applies for EUA for potential holds that impact second draw PPP loan applica- process for fi rst-time borrowers tion approvals. new direct PCR test for COVID-19 The U.S. Small Business Administration offi ce in Salt Information for employers seeking help with the PPP Co-Diagnostics Inc., a Salt Lake City molecular diag- Lake City said the agency is taking steps to improve the process is available at the SBA website, www.sba.gov/ppp. nostics company, has announced that it has submitted an ap- fi rst draw Paycheck Protection Program loan review pro- plication to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cess so small businesses have as much time as possible to for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its Logix access much-needed PPP funds. U.S. workers aren't ready to go back Smart SARS-CoV-2 DS (direct saliva) test, a COVID-19 “The SBA is committed to working with lenders and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic designed to eligible borrowers to provide the necessary information to the offi ce; many want to stay home detect the presence of the virus in human saliva samples for follow-up and help get small businesses back on track More than half of U.S. workers say they are still un- without fi rst requiring RNA extraction of the sample. so that they’re able to receive another round of PPP loans comfortable returning to the offi ce because of the CO- PCR tests usually require a costly, time-consuming swiftly,” said Marla Trollan, SBA Utah district director. VID-19 pandemic, even amid the current vaccine rollout. process intended to extract any genetic material present While reviewing the initial draw of PPP loans, anom- That’s according to a recently published survey from Digi- from the cells contained in the sample, Co-Diagnostics said. alies — mostly data mismatches and eligibility concerns tal.com, a business software review and analytics website. These extracted samples are then analyzed for the presence — were identifi ed in approximately 4.7 percent of the Most said they would be OK with going back once all em- of the target pathogen using PCR technology. The new test lender-submitted data. These concerns will require follow- ployees are vaccinated. was developed following the company’s announcement up between the lender and the borrower so borrowers can Employers feel much the same way. More than 50 per- that its patented CoPrimer technology was shown to be able access a second round of loans. cent said that they will require employees to be vaccinated to consistently detect the virus directly from minimally Trollan said the SBA encourages borrowers and lend- to return to work. processed saliva samples. The company believes that elimi- ers to work together as quickly as possible to resolve the One employer that took part in the survey seemed to nating the extraction process has the potential to increase issues. The SBA will automatically move favorable deci- represent the feelings of many bosses. “I would not require throughput and lower costs of COVID-19 testing, all with- sions to approval. During the newest round of PPP, the vaccines, though I would encourage people to consider out compromising quality or accuracy. SBA had already approved over 400,000 loans by Feb. 1 them. My personal view is that people need to get back to “Our new extraction-free saliva test has been devel- for approximately $35 billion. work to feed their families,” he said. oped as part of our ongoing commitment to providing im- “Prior to this newest PPP round, the SBA support- Many of the surveyed employers also seemed to think proved COVID-19 diagnostics for high-throughput labo- ed 5.2 million PPP loan borrowers, providing more than that working from home is here to stay. “Working remotely ratory settings, using technology with additional potential $525 billion in economic relief to small businesses and doesn’t change anything.