An oil rig with 13 workers aboard exploded this morning in the waters of Vermillion Bay, LA, according to WAFB, who cited Coast Guard sources who said there were no deaths and one serious injury.

The Vermillion Bay explosion happened west of where BP’s Deep Water Horizon explosion occurred on April 20, killing 11 and leaking millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

According to WAFB, officials from the Coast Guard said they are unsure if there is any leakage associated with explosion on the rig known as “Vermillion 398.” The well is owned by Mariner Energy.

This is the second oil well accident in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In July, response crews skimming oil near Plaquamines Parish piloted their boat over a well, triggering a leak and a 20-foot tall geyser of oil.

Ironically, thousands of oil industry workers rallied yesterday for the government to lift the moratorium on new deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Several companies including Chevron and Apache brought in about 5,000 employees to the Houston convention Center to protest Washington’s ban.

“We make America run, we make America work, and they need to remember that,’’ said Carroll Robinson of the Citizens Chamber of Commerce to cheers and applause. “If you stop drilling, if you stop producing, America stops working.’’

Wait, now do President Obama’s concerns that we need more time to ensure the safety of exploratory drilling, actually make sense to anybody?

Apparently not, because federal judge yesterday also rejected the U.S. government’s request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deepwater oil and gas drilling moratorium.

Originally in June, Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc and other drilling companies had sued the administration after it first put up a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following BP’s disastrous oil spill that killed 11 workers.

U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans blocked the implementation of the ban on June 22, which caused the Obama administration to issue a second drilling moratorium, asking Hornbeck’s lawsuit to be thrown out because the first ban was no longer relevant.

Judge Feldman, however, said the second moratorium offered “no substantial changes” from the first one, and denied the motion to dismiss the Hornbeck lawsuit.

Wait, but it gets worse. This new explosion comes on the same day as an independent panel said that the ban on deep-water oil drilling has served its purpose, and oil companies should be able to resume drilling if they meet new government standards.

The panel of energy and environmental experts said the six-month moratorium, which will end on November 30, had given the government enough time to develop an “adequate margin of safety.”

Can somebody, NOW, finally hear the warning signs spelled out by a certain black man with slightly big ears and a great penchant for oration? Or are we still waiting for the oil to continue “running” America. Because you know… “If you stop drilling… America stops working.’’