According to local newspaper the Allentown Morning Call, 43-year-old Jeffrey Klinger is once again looking at both felony and misdemeanour charges, including risking a catastrophe and endangering another person in the mine blast explosion at R&D Coal in October 2006 that killed Dale Reightler, 43. The case was Pennsylvania’s first-ever mine-focused criminal trial involving a death.

 

In a ruling on February 23, judge Jacqueline Russel decided not enough evidence existed to uphold Klinger’s charges, deciding at the same time that a charge against mine owner David Zimmerman would be dismissed for the same reason.

 

However, Zimmerman’s charge will not be refiled, nor will a similar dismissed charge against Zimmerman’s son Steven.

 

At the initial trial, the judge ruled that Klinger would only be charged with violating the state’s Anthracite Coal Mine Act.

 

Complicating things, however, was Russel’s proclamation on Friday that state assistant attorney general Glenn Parno had had inappropriate contact with court staff in the R&D case. Parno responded by asking that Russel be recused from the case because she could no longer remain fair and impartial.

 

Parno, according to the paper, also feels that other charges in Klinger’s first case were appropriate, prompting the decision.

 

''We had two options, appeal [Russel's ruling], which would have taken a year, or refile,” he said. “In the interest of expediting the conclusion of this case, we refiled.''

 

Both Zimmermans, the Call noted, are still facing other related charges, including reckless endangerment and involuntary manslaughter.

 

Klinger’s preliminary hearing on his reinstated charges is scheduled for April 30.

 

The charges stemmed from an April 2008 federal investigation that found flagrant violations at the operation had contributed to the methane gas explosion. Regulators looked to the operation’s blasting practices as well as inadequate ventilation.

 

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection permanently closed the mine in January 2007. In October 2007, almost one year to the day after the incident, owner and president David Himmelberger shot himself at the mine office.

 

Just months earlier, the US Mine Safety and Health Administration had handed down $874,000 in fines to the operation for its violations related to the death. Himmelberger's legal counsel was quoted at the time in local media as saying he was distressed over the case and potential fines that would bankrupt his company.