Fed Agencies: Tricky Decision: Who Gets A Heads-Up Before A Rollout?

"Last Thursday, the Center for Biological Diversity made an announcement: The Fish and Wildlife Service was proposing to delist the Yellowstone grizzly.

But FWS didn't release the proposal for another half-hour. CBD had scooped the agency on its own news, criticizing the delisting proposal before FWS had a chance to defend it.

The slip-up was minor and largely unnoticed. But it lifted the curtain on the orchestrated rollout of agency announcements, when interest groups and reporters sometimes get a heads-up before the "public" unveiling.

FWS spokesman Gavin Shire said the decision on whom to tell and when depends on numerous factors, including the type of announcement and which agency office is in charge."

Emily Yehle reports for Greenwire March 11, 2016.