TRUMP GUILIANI COCKTAIL

Remdesivir disrupts COVID-19 virus better than other similar drugs

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Research News

 

In the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, antiviral drug remdesivir has emerged as a promising candidate.

Remdesivir works by disrupting the virus's ability to replicate, but its exact mechanism has remained a mystery. Using advanced computational simulations, researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago have revealed just how the drug works at the molecular level. They also found that two drugs that work in a similar manner, ribavirin and favilavir, do not bind as effectively to the virus.

"It's important to understand how remdesivir works at a molecular level," said Prof. Juan de Pablo, who led the research. "Now that we see that it is effective, and other drugs are not as effective, it can guide future efforts for treating COVID-19."

The results were published Jan. 6 in the journal ACS Central Science.

Understanding how drugs disrupt the virus

Remdesivir works by disrupting SARS-CoV-2's RNA polymerase, a key enzyme that the virus needs to replicate itself. When this enzyme is disrupted, the virus cannot multiply and spread within the body.

But in patients, the drug has produced varied results. Some clinical trials have shown that patients who received it recovered faster and had improved mortality rates, while other trials have shown that the drug did not reduce mortality or hospitalization lengths.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, de Pablo and his group have been using advanced computational simulations to systematically look at the different proteins that allow the virus to replicate or infect cells. They also have looked at the key candidate drugs that are already used to treat other diseases and could be repurposed to inhibit those processes in SARS-CoV-2. The simulations, which require months of extremely powerful computations, ultimately reveal what happens at the molecular level.

To better understand how treatments disrupt the RNA polymerase, de Pablo and his group simulated the interaction between the enzyme and three drugs that are already available, and that are meant to inhibit it: remdesivir, ribavirin, and favilavir. They found that remdesivir binds strongly to the virus, but ribavirin and favilavir do not bind as effectively. They also found that remdesivir destabilizes the virus's protein complex, also reducing its ability to replicate.

Now that simulations show that the drug should work at a molecular level, scientists could focus, for example, on finding better strategies to deliver the drug more effectively, de Pablo said.

A complete landscape of molecular targets

Previously, the group used computational analysis to reveal how the drug Ebselen binds to the virus' main protease, or MPro. Now, the group is also examining the mechanisms of a different set of drugs on different proteins, with the goal of creating a complete landscape of molecular targets.

"We've seen that the virus is not going away and is in fact starting to mutate," de Pablo said. "Efforts to find the best therapies, and the best ways to administer them, have to continue."

###

Other authors on the paper include graduate students Fabian Byléhn, Walter Alvarado, and Gustavo R. Perez-Lemus, and postdoctoral researcher Cintia A. Menéndez.

Citation: "Modeling the Binding Mechanism of Remdesivir, Favilavir, and Ribavirin to SARS-CoV-2 RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase," Byléhn et al, ACS Cent. Sci., Jan. 6., 2021. DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.0c01242

Funding: National Science Foundation

FACTS PROVE GOP WRONG

COVID unemployment assistance puts food on the table: BU study

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Research News

 

Another wave of COVID-19 is putting millions out of work, while tens of millions more remain unemployed, and Congress debates aid.

Now, a new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study shows that unemployment help directly translates to people being able to put food on the table.

The CARES Act--passed in March of 2020-- expanded unemployment insurance coverage, amount, and duration.

Published in JAMA Network Open, the study finds that receiving unemployment insurance cuts a person's risk of food insecurity by a third, and halves the likelihood of needing to eat less because of financial constraints. And receiving more coverage, such as the weekly $600 supplement included in CARES until last July, means an even bigger reduction in the risk of going hungry.

"There has long been a need to improve the proportion of people covered, the duration of coverage, and the amount of coverage in our unemployment insurance system. This paper speaks to the critical role that unemployment insurance can play in preventing people from facing food insecurity during a crisis," says study lead author Dr. Julia Raifman, assistant professor of health law, policy & management at BUSPH.

Raifman and colleagues used data from the Understanding Coronavirus in America study, looking at a sample of 2,319 people who had household incomes less than $75,000 and had been employed in February. By the end of July, 1,119 people (nearly half) had experienced unemployment.

Of those who lost their jobs, 415 reported food insecurity and 437 reported that they sometimes ate less because of financial constraints.

The researchers found that receiving unemployment insurance was associated with a 35.0% relative decline in a person's risk of food insecurity, and a 47.8% relative decline in the likelihood of having to eat less. Receiving larger amounts of unemployment insurance and/or the weekly $600 CARES supplement came with even more substantial declines in food insecurity and having to eating less.

The researchers also identified major disparities in who is facing food insecurity among those who have lost their jobs during COVID: 69.2% of Indigenous participants in the study reported food insecurity, as did 52.5% of Hispanic participants, 42.2% of Black participants, 40.3% of Asian participants, and 26.9% of non-Hispanic white participants.

They also found that 46.1% of households with kids faced food insecurity, compared to 32.8% of households without kids.

"It is heartbreaking that families with children are even more likely to face food insecurity," Raifman says. "The recent Booker/Pressley policy proposal to provide direct payments to children's families could make a big difference for their food security and short- and long-term health."

###

About the Boston University School of Public Health

Founded in 1976, the Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top five ranked private schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations--especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable--locally and globally.

Medicaid expansion in New York has improved maternal health, study finds

Policy intervention is particularly beneficial to low-income and minority women

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Research News

 

January 29, 2021 -- A study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center has found that Medicaid expansion in 2014 in New York State was associated with a statistically significant reduction in severe maternal morbidity in low-income women during delivery hospitalizations compared with high-income women. The decrease was even more pronounced in racial and ethnic minority women than in White women. Until now there was little research on the link between ACA Medicaid expansion and maternal health outcomes. The findings are published online in the journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society, Anesthesia & Analgesia.

"Our findings indicate that the 2014 Medicaid expansion under the ACA in New York has contributed to reducing severe maternal morbidity in low- income women. These findings are of public health importance given the ongoing increase in maternal morbidity and mortality on the national level," said Jean Guglielminotti, MD, PhD, in the Department of Anesthesiology, Columbia Medical Center.

The researchers analyzed data from the 2006-2016 New York State Inpatient Database, a census of discharge records from community hospitals. They compared the changes in the incidence of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during delivery hospitalizations and discharges between low- and high-income women associated with the 2014 Medicaid expansion in New York State from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2016.

For each year of the study period, the researchers calculated the volume of deliveries and delivery-related discharges, cesarean delivery rate, percent admission during a weekend, percent non-White women (i.e, racial and ethnic minority women), and percent Medicaid beneficiaries.

Of 2,286,975 delivery-related discharges in 173 hospitals, 611,020 were among low-income women (27 percent). Compared with high-income women, low- income women had a higher incidence of SMM (2.6% vs 1.9%, respectively).

Medicaid beneficiaries increased from 43 percent in the pre-expansion study period to 48 percent in the post-expansion study period. The proportion of the uninsured decreased 5 percent and by a decline of 9 percent among privately insured women. The 2014 New York State Medicaid expansion increased the income eligibility threshold for pregnant women from 200 percent to 223 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. According to earlier Columbia research, even though half of pregnant women are covered by Medicaid nationwide, up to 13 percent are uninsured in the month of delivery.

"We hypothesized that the introduction of Medicaid expansion in January 2014 would not be associated with an abrupt change in the incidence of SMM immediately after its introduction but rather with a gradual decrease over time," said Guglielminotti. "We based this on the fact that a pregnancy lasts 3 quarter-years and that the beneficial effect of health insurance coverage on maternal health outcomes during delivery hospitalizations is thought to be mediated by earlier prenatal care during pregnancy and a better quality of prenatal care."

While insured women may receive earlier and better care throughout pregnancy and postpartum, an earlier and higher utilization of prenatal care is also associated with better maternal and neonatal outcomes, according to the researchers. Secondly, insured women might seek earlier care if symptomatic of a complication without worrying about financial implications. In addition, care during hospitalization can be influenced by insurance type by removing financial barriers to care delivery such as the utilization of expensive procedures.

"Excess maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States, particularly in low-income and racial/ethnic minority women, is a growing public health concern," said Guohua Li, MD, DrPH, professor of Anesthesiology and Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. "Our study suggests that Medicaid expansion under the ACA is an effective policy intervention to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce health disparities. "

###

A co-author of the study is Ruth Landau, MD, Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health 

WHITE PRIVELEGE 

Social & structural factors influence racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality

Rutgers study finds counties with higher percentage of adults without a high school diploma and households without internet access were strong predictors of COVID-19 mortality

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

COVID-19 mortality racial disparities in the U.S. are associated with social factors like income, education and internet access, according to a Rutgers study.

The study, published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, highlights the need for public health policies that address structural racism.

The researchers investigated the association between COVID-19 cases and deaths in 2,026 U.S. counties from January to October 2020 and social determinants of health, which can raise the risk for infection and death.

They also looked at factors known or thought to impact COVID-19 outcomes, including the counties' population density, days since the first COVID-19 death and percent of residents who are over age 65, are smokers or who have chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or high blood pressure.

The study found that a 1 percentage point increase in a county's percent of Black residents, uninsured adults, low birthweight infants, adults without a high school diploma, incarceration rate and households without internet increased that county's COVID-19 death rates during the time period examined.

Counties that were the most deprived socioeconomically had a 67 percent increase in the COVID-19 death rate. 

Michelle DallaPiazza, lead author and an associate professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said the percent of households without internet, which provides updated knowledge of the pandemic and allows remote working and learning, and the percentage of adults without a high school diploma were the factors most associated with a county's COVID-19 death rate.

"The findings are consistent with historical health inequities in marginalized populations, particularly Black Americans," DallaPiazza said. "This adds to the extensive literature on racial health disparities that demonstrate that social and structural factors greatly influence health outcomes, and this is particularly true when it comes to COVID-19."

###

Other authors include Ankur K. Dalsania, Matthew J. Fastiggi, Aaron Kahlam and Krishan Patel at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Rajvi Shah at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Stephanie Shiau and Slawa Rokicki at Rutgers School of Public Health.

A third of Americans say they are unlikely or hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccine

UC Davis nationwide survey

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

Research News

 

News reports indicate COVID-19 vaccines are not getting out soon enough nor in adequate supplies to most regions, but there may be a larger underlying problem than shortages. A University of California, Davis, study found that more than a third of people nationwide are either unlikely or at least hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.

The results are from public polling of more than 800 English-speaking adults nationwide in a study published online earlier this month in the journal Vaccine.

"Our research indicates that vaccine uptake will be suboptimal ... with 14.8 percent of respondents being unlikely to get vaccinated and another 23 percent unsure," said Jeanette B. Ruiz, assistant professor of teaching communication at UC Davis and lead author of the study.

"Even though vaccination remains one of the most effective public health initiatives, some still doubt the efficacy and safety of vaccines. Unfortunately, the seemingly rushed process of the COVID-19 vaccine may have further fueled these doubts."

Co-author is Robert Bell, emeritus professor of communication, UC Davis.

Respondents cited vaccine safety and effectiveness assessments as the primary basis for hesitancy, authors said.

In the study, compensated participants were recruited from the United States through an Internet survey panel of 2.5 million residents developed by a commercial survey firm. Recruitment was based on quota sampling to produce a U.S. census-matched sample representative of the nation, and was representative of the U.S. population in terms of region of residence, sex and age, but also diverse with regard to all demographic variables assessed.

Researchers measured the respondents' intention to vaccinate; demographic and health status profile of individuals least likely to vaccinate; general vaccine knowledge and vaccine conspiracy beliefs; and the role of media and partisan politics played in their resistance to vaccination.

Political party, health risk factors, media contribute to attitudes

Authors indicated demographic characteristics, vaccine knowledge, perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, risk factors for COVID-19, and politics likely contribute to vaccination hesitancy. The study was conducted relatively early in the pandemic outbreak during two days in June 2020.

Demographic predictors of likelihood of being vaccinated against COVID-19 included having an income of $120,000 or higher, or being a Democrat (in comparison to the reference category Republican). The members of three political groups -- Democrat, Republican or Independent -- did not differ in their reported vaccine knowledge, however. One fourth of those identifying with no political party reported they were not likely to get vaccinated.

Media had an effect too. Respondents relying primarily on social media for information about COVID-19 anticipated a lower likelihood of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Those reporting getting their information from various other media did not show significant differences in vaccine acceptance, but viewers of Fox News did report being more hesitant than viewers of other broadcast news, the research showed. Authors noted that it is possible that individuals gravitate toward the cable news networks that present a view on the pandemic that is aligned with their own opinions.

Media reports have regularly noted that men, adults age 65 and over, and individuals with pre-existing conditions are most vulnerable to COVID-19, and respondents from these groups said they were more likely to accept a future vaccine in this survey. A majority of the least-educated respondents did not expect to get vaccinated against COVID-19, researchers said.

The top four reasons given for vaccination hesitancy were as follows: concerns about vaccine side effects, worries about allergic responses to the vaccine, doubts about vaccine effectiveness and a preference for developing immunity through infection. Other reasons were less frequently cited -- including being healthy, fear of needles, being immune from past infection, being young and lack of concern about developing a serious illness.

Unfortunately, the health disparities present in the spread and treatment of COVID-19 were reflected in survey participants' vaccination hesitancy estimations," researchers said in the paper. "The pandemic has especially burdened the African American, Latino and Native American communities, who account for a disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Greater likelihood of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was associated with more knowledge about vaccines, less acceptance of vaccine conspiracies, elevated COVID-19 threat appraisals and being current with influenza immunization."

Primary Findings Summary

• Male, older, white, married, and those from higher-income households more likely to vaccinate.
• Republicans and Fox News viewers were less likely to vaccinate.
• Being currently immunized against influenza predicted COVID-19 vaccination intent.
• A better understanding of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy is needed.

###

Link to study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21000141

Additional Media Resources

Vaccine Myths in Social Media Can Be Effectively Reduced
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/vaccine-myths-social-media-can-be-effectively-reduced-credible-fact-checking

UC Davis Live: Combating Vaccine Misinformation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OrGUI3IXis

By changing their shape, some bacteria can grow more resilient to antibiotics

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: COMPARISON OF GROWTH OF CAULOBACTER CRESCENTUS WHEN EXPOSED TO AN ANTIBIOTIC (BOTTOM) AND NOT (TOP) view more 

CREDIT: SHILADITYA BANERJEE

New research led by Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor of Physics Shiladitya Banerjee demonstrates how certain types of bacteria can adapt to long-term exposure to antibiotics by changing their shape. The work was published this month in the journal Nature Physics.

Adaptation is a fundamental biological process driving organisms to change their traits and behavior to better fit their environment, whether it be the famed diversity of finches observed by pioneering biologist Charles Darwin or the many varieties of bacteria that humans coexist with. While antibiotics have long helped people prevent and cure bacterial infections, many species of bacteria have increasingly been able to adapt to resist antibiotic treatments.

Banerjee's research at Carnegie Mellon and in his previous position at the University College London (UCL) has focused on the mechanics and physics behind various cellular processes, and a common theme in his work has been that the shape of a cell can have major effects on its reproduction and survival. Along with researchers at the University of Chicago, he decided to dig into how exposure to antibiotics affects the growth and morphologies of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, a commonly used model organism.

"Using single-cell experiments and theoretical modelling, we demonstrate that cell shape changes act as a feedback strategy to make bacteria more adaptive to surviving antibiotics," Banerjee said of what he and his collaborators found.

When exposed to less than lethal doses of the antibiotic chloramphenicol over multiple generations, the researchers found that the bacteria dramatically changed their shape by becoming wider and more curved.

"These shape changes enable bacteria to overcome the stress of antibiotics and resume fast growth," Banerjee said. The researchers came to this conclusion by developing a theoretical model to show how these physical changes allow the bacteria to attain a higher curvature and lower surface-to-volume ratio, which would allow fewer antibiotic particles to pass through their cellular surfaces as they grow.

"This insight is of great consequence to human health and will likely stimulate numerous further molecular studies into the role of cell shape on bacterial growth and antibiotic resistance," Banerjee said.

###

Other authors on the study included Aaron R. Dinner, Klevin Lo and Norbert F. Scherer from the University of Chicago; and Nikola Ojkic and Roisin Stephens, previous members of the Banerjee research group at UCL.

Funding for the research was provided by grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom (EP/R029822/1), the Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF/R1/180187), the Royal Society (RGF/EA/181044) and the National Science Foundation (NSF PHY-2020295, NSF PHY-1305542, NSF DMR-1420709, MCB-1953402).

SPECULATION RUN AMOK 

Tiny E&P Share Price Spikes 959% 

on Reddit Mention
by Bloomberg
|Michael Tobin
|Friday, January 29, 2021




An obscure company that employs five people and appears to 

produce from some wells in Appalachia became the latest Reddit-fueled day-trading craze.

(Bloomberg) -- An obscure company that employs five people and appears to produce negligible amounts of oil and natural gas from some wells in Appalachia became the latest Reddit-fueled day-trading craze, soaring nearly 1,000% to become a $128 million company in a matter of hours.

New Concept Energy Inc. got a mention by retail traders on the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit on a day when brokerages including Robinhood Markets clamped down on trading in shares such as GameStop Corp. after some of the wildest stock swings the markets have seen in recent years.

For a company that produces a mere 70 barrels of oil equivalent a day and has a board whose average age is 74, that was still enough to send its shares up by a whopping 959% to $25, the highest since 2000.

Short interest in New Concept Energy has fallen to 0.3% of its float from 13% earlier this month, according to data from S3 Partners.

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment on Thursday’s meteroric stock performance.

At the end of 2019, New Concept Energy had 153 producing gas wells and 44 non-producing wells, with mineral leases across 20,000 acres, according to regulatory filings.

The company lost 46 cents a share on revenue of $590,000 in 2019, according to its annual report.

© 2021 Bloomberg

Social media platform Reddit hit by outages in the U.S.

Reddit users reported outages in the U.S. and Canada for a short time on Saturday.


Akarsh Verma

New Delhi

January 31, 2021







HIGHLIGHTS
Several Reddit users reported problems logging in to Reddit on Saturday.
Reddit has been at the center of controversy this week after users from the r/WallStreetBets subreddit kicked off a stock-buying frenzy.
The stock buying frenzy has led to a fierce debate with many on Wall Street calling it market manipulation.

Users in both the US and Canada reported outages on Reddit for a short period on Saturday, with the company admitting there have been “higher error rates” this week amidst newfound attention on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit.

A map on the Downdetector website showed customers reporting issues logging in to Reddit and sending messages, according to Reuters. Regions such as New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C., were affected, as was Toronto.

We did have some issues with higher error rates this week...It meant slower load times for some users but we were never hard down,” a spokesperson for Reddit told Reuters about the latest wave of issues.

Reddit has been at the center of controversy this week after users from the r/WallStreetBets subreddit kicked off a stock-buying frenzy, significantly adding to the value of companies like GameStop and AMC, which had been struggling in the marketplace. The subreddit has approximately six million members.

Empty seas: Oceanic shark populations dropped 71% since 1970

Scientists have known for decades that individual shark species are declining, but a new study drawing on 57 global datasets underscores just how dramatically worldwide populations have collapsed in the past half-century.

Associated Press Washington January 28, 2021
This 2001 photo provided by Dr. Greg Skomal shows a shortfin mako shark off the coast of Massachusetts. (Photo: AP)

When marine biologist Stuart Sandin talks about sharks, it sounds like he's describing Jedis of the ocean. "They are terrific predators, fast swimmers and they have amazing senses - they can detect any disturbance in the ocean from great distance," such as smells or tiny changes in water currents.

Their ability to quickly sense anything outside the norm in their environment helps them find prey in the vastness of the open ocean. But it also makes them especially vulnerable in the face of increased international fishing pressure, as global fishing fleets have doubled since 1950

"You drop a fishing line in the open ocean, and often it's sharks that are there first - whether or not they're the primary target," said Sandin, who works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Scientists have known for decades that individual shark species are declining, but a new study drawing on 57 global datasets underscores just how dramatically worldwide populations have collapsed in the past half-century.

Globally, the abundance of oceanic sharks and rays dropped more than 70% between 1970 and 2018, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

And 24 of the 31 species of sharks and rays are threatened with extinction, while three species - oceanic whitetip sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks and great hammerhead sharks - are considered critically endangered.

"The last 50 years have been pretty devastating for global shark populations," said Nathan Pacoureau, a biologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada and a co-author of the study.

Sometimes sharks are intentionally caught by fishing fleets, but more often they are reeled in incidentally as " bycatch," in the course of fishing for other species such as tuna and swordfish.

Sharks and rays are both fish with skeletons made of cartilage, not bone. In contrast to most other kinds of fish, they generally take several years to reach sexual maturity, and they produce fewer offspring.

"In terms of timing, they reproduce more like mammals - and that makes them especially vulnerable," said Pacoureau. "Their populations cannot replenish as quickly as many other kinds of fish."

The number of fishing vessels trolling the open ocean has risen steeply since the 1950s, as engine power expanded ships' range. And while climate change and pollution also imperil shark survival, increased fishing pressure is the greatest threat for every oceanic shark species.

"When you remove top predators of the ocean, it impacts every part of the marine food web," said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University, who was not involved in the study. "Sharks are like the lions, tigers and bears of the ocean world, and they help keep the rest of the ecosystem in balance."

SpaceX Eyes Gas Wells Near South Texas Launchpad

by Bloomberg

|

Sergio Chapa

|

Monday, January 25, 2021 

SpaceX plans to drill wells close to its Boca Chica launchpad, it was revealed during a Friday hearing before the Railroad Commission of Texas.

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk recently moved to Texas, where he launches some of his rockets and is building a battery factory. Now, for good measure, he plans to drill for natural gas in the state.

The billionaire’s SpaceX intends to drill wells close to the company’s Boca Chica launchpad, it was revealed during a Friday hearing before the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s energy regulator.

Production has yet to start because of a legal dispute between the SpaceX subsidiary Lone Star Mineral Development and another energy company. Tim George, an attorney representing Lone Star, said at the hearing that SpaceX plans to use the methane it extracts from the ground “in connection with their rocket facility operations.”

While it’s unclear what exactly the gas would be used for, SpaceX plans to utilize super-chilled liquid methane and liquid oxygen as fuel for its Raptor engines. The company’s Starship and Super Heavy vehicles are tested at Boca Chica, and orbital launches are planned for the site.

George declined to answer further questions and hung up when called for comment. SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk said in December he relocated to Texas to focus on SpaceX’s Starship vehicle and Tesla Inc.’s new Gigafactory, which is being built near Austin. On Thursday, the billionaire tweeted that he plans to donate $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon-capture technology. His past comments have suggested that he wants to use the tech to produce synthetic carbon-neutral rocket fuel. Until then, fossil fuels will power SpaceX rockets.

Formed in June 2020, Lone Star bought the 806-acre (326-hectare) La Pita oil lease from Houston-based Sanchez Energy, which was later renamed Mesquite Energy Inc. after exiting bankruptcy. Financial terms for the deal weren’t disclosed, but the SpaceX subsidiary’s drilling plans have been called into question amid a dispute with Dallas Petroleum Group, which claims ownership of some inactive wells sitting on the same land.

Dallas Petroleum took the dispute to the Railroad Commission in August. Two months later, it sued three companies -- Sanchez Midstream Partners LP, Sanchez Midstream Partners GP LLC and Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp. -- in state court in Brownsville, Texas.

That lawsuit prompted SpaceX’s land-acquisition arm Dogleg Park LLC to intervene in November. In a filing to the court, Dogleg said Dallas Petroleum locked SpaceX out of the property and asserted ownership claims for the “sole purpose of extorting money from SpaceX.”

Dallas Petroleum Group denies the allegations and maintains it has ownership of both the wells and the 24 surrounding acres.

During Friday’s hearing, Dallas Petroleum CEO Matt Williams shared aerial photos that he said showed company equipment near the wells had been disconnected, while drilling and hydraulic-fracturing gear it doesn’t own had been moved onto the property. His company, he added, was also given a trespass warning.

“Our signs are all over these tanks and the well head,” he said. “Any operation that went on there, we were very much liable for any problems that could have happened.”

The Brownsville court is due to hear the lawsuit on Feb. 9 while Railroad Commission Administrative Law Judge Jennifer Cook is likely to take months to propose a decision that will later be voted on by the agency’s three commissioners in a public hearing. Cook is expected to scrutinize Dallas Petroleum’s claims against property and tax records, which list Sanchez as owner of the disputed land.

The area around the SpaceX facility has seen limited oil and gas development. There are almost a nearby dozen wells classified as either abandoned or dry holes, Railroad Commission Records show. Canadian company Enbridge Inc. owns and operates the nearby Valley Crossing Pipeline, which moves 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas to customers in Mexico.

The Brownsville region may see more energy investment in the years ahead. There are separate plans for three liquefied natural gas export terminals about 5 miles (8 kilometers) west of the launch site. Environmental reports for those projects say they could safely coexist with SpaceX, although some activists dispute those claims.

--With assistance from Akshat Rathi and Rachel Adams-Heard.

© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.