Justice Won't Prosecute EPA Scientist

A recent Journal editorial noted an appalling double standard: the Department of Justice has given a pass to senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency who enabled fake spy John Beale to steal almost $900,000 from taxpayers. Meanwhile Justice threatened EPA career employee Mark Townsend with prison time for alleged management failures that were far less serious. Good news for Mr. Townsend arrived late yesterday. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia notified his lawyer Mark Heilbrun that the investigation of Mr. Townsend is closed.  But has U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen even started an investigation of the EPA brass who enabled Beale to bilk taxpayers for years while he pretended to be a secret CIA agent?  On Capitol Hill, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D. Calif.), who is supposed to lead oversight of the EPA as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, hasn't held a single hearing on the Beale disaster. But even without subpoena power, the committee's ranking member Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) has poked enough holes in the official story to expose open hostilities between EPA's top leadership and the Obama-appointed inspector general who has been investigating the case...more