(Adds DOJ declining to comment, fifth paragraph)
Feb 25 (Reuters) - A former BP Plc supervisor wasfound not guilty by a New Orleans jury on Thursday of a singlepollution charge stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizondrilling disaster that killed 11 people.
Robert Kaluza was the last of four people who had facedcharges in connection with the disaster, the worst offshore oilspill in U.S. history.
Kaluza, along with another former well-site manager, wasaccused of ignoring warning signs and botching safety testingthat resulted in the rupture and explosion of BP's Macondo well,sending millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
A jury on Thursday found Kaluza not guilty of a singlemisdemeanor count of violating the U.S. Clean Water Act. Ifconvicted, he could have faced up to a year in jail.
A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department declined tocomment on the jury's decision.
Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, the two highest-rankingsupervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon rig, had initiallyfaced charges of manslaughter and violating the Clean Water Act.
The federal government dismissed involuntary manslaughtercharges against the men, saying a review after the incidentdetermined the case did not meet the criteria for grossnegligence.
In March 2015, a federal appeals court upheld a lower courtruling to drop charges of seamen's manslaughter against Kaluzaand Vidrine, saying that the men's responsibilities on the rigdid not constitute the "marine operations, maintenance andnavigation" of a ship.
Vidrine in December pleaded guilty to a misdemeanorviolation of the Clean Water Act and was sentenced to probation,the Justice Department said.
None of the four charged in the disaster have been sentencedto jail time.
BP has sustained more than $42 billion in charges from thedisaster aboard the rig. The company is awaiting a separateruling from a New Orleans federal judge, expected some time thisyear, over its fines under the U.S. Clean Water Act. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing byRichard Pullin and David Goodman)