( November 18, 2024, 2:21 PM EST) -- WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has granted preliminary approval to a $6.5 million class settlement in a protracted dispute over abandoned wells between hydraulic fracturing operators and landowners, with the deal calling for the fracking defendants to plug 2,600 wells across West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee through the end of 2034....