( September 8, 2023, 2:25 PM EDT) -- WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit involving mineral rights interests for hydraulic fracturing, ruling that at this stage of the litigation the plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that their tort actions arise independent of the lease agreement between themselves and an energy company they say has engaged in “indefensible” drilling practices that have diminished the plaintiffs’ royalty payments....