“[They] asked yesterday [Monday] that we hold off on making the report public until we could meet with them to provide more in-depth presentations of the report,” West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training spokeswoman Caryn Gresham told International Longwall News. “In deference to that request, we are holding off on the release.”

While she said no time, date or location have been set for a rescheduling, the office is working directly with the families on their needs. “We hope to have the requests of the families ready as soon as possible, hopefully as early as next week, so that we can meet with them again.”

It is at that time, Gresham said, that the report will be released to the public. She confirmed that the full document will be available on the agency’s website as a PDF file.

She was also able to confirm the topic of lightning as a contributing factor to the explosion is outlined within the report and that the “investigating team” that put it together has made recommendations for improved mine safety within the document’s pages. However, she abstained from mentioning specific subjects, such as the mine seals under discussion in many media reports Monday.

“The report covers a great deal of the state’s investigation into the activities before and during the accident, the rescue and recovery,” Gresham said.

“There is a great deal of information about the role lightning played in the accident, information about the subsequent explosion and other topics.”

In the meantime, several other individuals have aired their frustration with the report, the cancellation of the informational meeting and the information in the report that has surfaced in the media.

While the WVOMHST is to rewrite portions of the report, United Mine Workers of America spokesman Phil Smith told the Associated Press yesterday the lightning theory was “cockamamie” and that the UMWA does not support it. According to the news service, Smith said that if the state opts to continue with the theory of lightning then the writing of regulations requiring evacuation before a storm should commence.

State Governor Joe Manchin told various media Tuesday: “I wasn’t satisfied with what was done … I was just frustrated,” and that the families should get “every piece of information that we have.”

Several media outlets have also outlined a rescheduled date of Monday, December 18 for a second briefing, an engagement not confirmed by Gresham in ILN’s Tuesday interview.

When the process is complete, the document will be available for public viewing on www.wvminesafety.org along with a planned release of official comments from agency director Ron Wooten.