NEW ORLEANS- A former BP rig supervisor goes on trial Tuesday on a misdemeanor charge connected to pollution from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
    
Robert Kaluza once faced much more serious charges - manslaughter counts connected to the deaths of 11 workers who died when the offshore rig exploded.
    
But federal prosecutors backed off those charges in December.
    
Tuesday's trial is for a single misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act.
    
Another rig supervisor, Donald Vidrine, pleaded guilty to the same charge last year after the manslaughter charges were dropped.
    
Prosecutors say Kaluza and Vidrine, botched a "negative pressure test" and missed clear signs of trouble before the well blowout.
    
The blowout spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.