Airline Disputes Finding

The Reuters news agency is reporting that someone has figured out the proximate cause for the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 MD-83 crash in January, 2000: it says that the Airline didn't have the jackscrew properly lubricated.
Alaska Airlines said  the Boeing-OK'd grease may actually have caused corrosion that led to the binding, that cause the horizontal stabilizer jackscrew to fail, that caused the crash, that killed 88 people.
Reuters says that, in a closed meeting last week, the NTSB rejected the theory that the grease may have actually corroded the part. 
Alaska says that report is incorrect.
This discussion, about possible incompatibilities between the Mobil 28 (which was the original grease) and Aeroshell 33 (approved by Boeing, in Alaska's records, and applied to the jackscrew) has been going on for a long time ("Alaska Air 261 NTSB Hearings... ," 12-18-00, ANN). 
Whether the grease itself was adequate; whether the problem, if one came from the greases, was the result of insufficient grease, or insufficient cleaning at the time the two greases were mixed on the part; whether more grease, or higher-frequency inspections could have helped -- the NTSB will figure it out; and the lawyers will settle it.

FMI: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X20339&key=1