Sentence set in misdemeanor BP oil spill pollution case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal criminal case arising from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is nearing its end.

Donald Vidrine, a former BP engineer who was a supervisor aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig is set for sentencing Wednesday on a misdemeanor Clean Water Act charge.

Prosecutors claimed Vidrine and another supervisor botched a pressure test before the rig's explosion, which sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf.

Vidrine pleaded guilty in December to the pollution charge.

A plea deal calls for him to serve 10 months of probation.

Vidrine and co-defendant Robert Kaluza once faced manslaughter charges in the deaths of 11 rig workers. Prosecutors eventually dropped those charges, opting to pursue the misdemeanor charges.

Kaluza chose to go to trial and was acquitted in February.