One of the very early Nick-names for the EPA (shortly after its founding) was “Every Polluter’s Ally”, as it was viewed as more emitter-friendly than the state regulators which preceded it.

Reminds me of how HIPAA was actually created as a way to standardize patient data so it could be more easily shared. The stuff about doctors not being allowed to share your medical history with employers only came later. A lot of people think of it as a privacy bill but it's actually the exact opposite

A lot of industry regulation has basically been regulatory capture since the start

It was created by Nixon, so yeah I'm sure the early days were a little weird (and it hasn't gotten any better since).