(December 6, 2023, 4:06 PM EST) -- NEW ORLEANS — In denying several petitions for exemptions to a Clean Air Act (CAA) program filed by small refineries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used a new approach that was impermissibly retroactive to the petitions that were filed years ago because the refineries justifiably relied upon the agency’s previous approach and there were no benefits to retroactively applying the new approach, the majority of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in granting a group of refineries’ petitions for review....