The Ninth Circuit on Thursday upheld a federal judge's 2013 decision rejecting a claim made by the pilot behind the massive 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill that his mariner's license had been improperly revoked by the US Coast Guard.
The crash resulted in 53,000 gallons of oil spilling into the Bay, killing almost 7,000 birds and covering beaches with oil in the process. But its pilot, John Cota, would like to once again sail commercial ships, and had sued the Coast Guard in an attempt to regain his mariner's license, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Cota, who helped steer the Cosco Busan into the Oakland Bay Bridge amidst thick fog, pleaded guilty to water pollution charges and spent 10 months in federal prison, notes the paper.
The Coast Guard claimed that Cota had failed to properly disclose his use of prescription drugs, and that he had failed to report grounding another ship a year prior to the Cosco Busan incident.
The spill had wide-reaching economic impacts on fisherman in the area, around 120 of whom were eventually awarded roughly $6 million in a class action suit against the owners and operators of the ship.
