(September 6, 2023, 11:56 AM EDT) -- WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed an answer in West Virginia federal court denying all class action allegations brought by landowners in an abandoned wells dispute and asserting affirmative defenses that the plaintiffs’ claims are bared because they constitute “an improper collateral attack” because a state agency’s order establishes that the fracking company is not obligated to plug the wells in question....