A federal court in California has reportedly ordered a Greek-owned shipping company to pay $650,000 for covering up the discharge of oily waste and sludge in violation of international and national oil pollution laws. U.S. v. Dianik Vross Shipping Corp., No. 11-828 (N.D. Cal. 11/15/11). At a November 15, 2011, hearing, the company and chief engineer of the ship M/V Kostas N pleaded guilty to routinely circumventing the ship’s pollution control equipment to prevent detection of discharges of tainted wastewater at sea. None of the illegal discharges were recorded in the ship’s oil record book as required by the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. According to press reports, the company must pay a $500,000 fine, spend $150,000 on environmental projects in the San Francisco Bay area and implement a fleetwide environmental compliance plan to prevent similar incidents. The chief engineer was sentenced to more than three months of community confinement. See BNA Daily Environment Report, November 18, 2011.