Prosecutors ask to drop charges against BP supervisors

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges against two BP supervisors worked on the rig where 11 workers died in a 2010 explosion.

If the judge grants the request Wednesday, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine would face only one count each of violating the clean water act. That charge is a misdemeanor. The court filing doesn't offer a reason for the request, saying only that dismissing the manslaughter charges is "in the interests of justice."

Vidrine was set to appear in federal court Wednesday morning for a change of plea hearing. There was no hearing scheduled for Kaluza.

The explosion on the BP PLC-operated drilling rig killed 11 workers about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast and set off the nation's worst offshore oil disaster.