It’s a very Reagan movie. Good movie but small business owners get ahead by finding a new area where a lot of the profits are because the government hasn’t regulated it feels different now.

Also hero arc where typically dissolute and fraudulent college professors find themselves as heroic entrepreneurs

Indeed. Had they not been evasive with Peck in the first place, yes, he would've tried regulating them, but (1) they needed regulation, Egon himself noted they were pushing containment limits; and (2) Peck, with a full understanding of the situation, would not have suddenly shut it off.

I can't recall if he was from the Federal EPA or the New York City EPA (whatever it's called) but I strongly recall that when I saw the film I interpreted it as City, and still think it's a very New York coded movie