High Court Hears Challenge Over Where EPA Small‑refinery Denials Belong — D.C. Circuit or Regional Courts?

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining on whether denials of small‑refinery exemption petitions must be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit or in regional circuits. Government counsel told the Court the April 2022 denials resolved 105 petitions across multiple states and circuits and were driven by a single, nationwide change in EPA's statutory interpretation and economic analysis.

Why it matters: the decision will determine where companies and challengers may sue over ephemeral but high‑stakes administrati ve determinations under the Clean Air Act, and whether a single court should resolve disputes that implicate agencywide methodology rather than site‑specific facts.

At argument, "This case provides a paradigmatic example of the result that the Clean Air Act's venue provision was intended to avoid," counsel Mister Stewart said, describing the agency's decision to publish a common methodology and deny many petitions together. Stewart argued the denials rested on a new statutory interpretation and an economic theory applied nationally and said the D.C. Circuit (or central review) was the efficient forum to avoid inconsistent rulings.

Several justices pushed back on how to draw a limiting principle. Justice Gorsuch asked whether there are "any limits to aggregating different claims,…