This just in:

House Democratic leaders have sent a strong letter to Alpha Natural Resources President Kevin Crutchfield, questioning whether the company has met its promises to improve safety at former Massey Energy operations and complied with its non-prosecution agreement with U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. The letter, signed by Reps. George Miller and Lynn Woolsey, ranking Democrats on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce says:

We are concerned that Alpha’s Running Right program, which was widely touted as a remedy to the widely discredited Massey safety culture, is not having the positive impact promised by Alpha.

Miller and Woolsey cited the troubling events at Alpha’s Road Fork No. 51 Mine (see here, here and here), and they point out — as reported here on Coal Tattoo — that the Alpha’s mine management at Road Fork includes the same mine superintendent who was in charge with two miners died in the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine fire and the guy who was the boss when Massey’s Freedom Energy operation had such serious safety problems over in Kentucky. Their letter says:

Given the life-threatening conduct at Road Fork #51, with conduct nearly identical to the deadly incident at Aracoma, the safety culture at former Massey operations appears unchanged, despite the Running Right program.