The Coast Guard says there is no sign of an oil leak after the latest Gulf platform fire, but crews are continuing to monitor the situation. 
 
 Enlarge By Gerald Herbert, AP Boats spray water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana on Thursday. Enlarge By Patrick Semansky, AP Two oil rig workers, left, walk away from the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that rescued them after an oil production platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. The helicopter landed on the roof of Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, La. All 13 crew members survived the explosion. An offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded Thursday did not leak a significant amount of oil into the water, the Coast Guard said. All 13 rig workers donned bright orange survival gear — known as "Gumby suits" — and scrambled into the Gulf after the explosion. They were rescued by a supply ship, Coast Guard Capt. Peter Troedsson said. None were seriously injured. The owner of the oil and gas platform, Mariner Energy of Houston, reported that a mile-long slick was visible on the water near the rig. When the Coast Guard reached the scene a short time later, there was no evidence of any leaks, Troedsson said. "The boats and the aircraft on scene cannot see a sheen," he said. The outcome of the explosion was very different from the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig 200 miles to the east. That well, owned by oil company BP, spewed crude oil and natural gas for nearly three months in the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. About 206 million gallons of oil polluted the Gulf. The Vermilion Oil Rig 380 that exploded Thursday sat in 340 feet of water and was approved to collect oil and gas from existing wells, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. It was undergoing maintenance and was not producing at the time of the accident. ON DEADLINE: Oil rig explosion news as it happens DEEPWATER SPILL: Engineers retrieve failed blowout preventer FULL COVERAGE: Tracking the oil spill By contrast, the Deepwater Horizon was operating in more than 5,000 feet of water and was drilling into extremely deep reservoirs under high pressure. Thursday's explosion was reported at 9:19 a.m. by a nearby rig, Troedsson said. The blast occurred 92 miles south of Vermilion Bay, La., west of New Orleans and the Mississippi River Delta. Dan Shaw, the captain of the Crystal Clear supply boat that rescued Vermilion's workers, said the employees huddled together in the water, holding hands. They were hungry and tired after floating for two hours, he said. Mariner Energy describes itself on its website as "one of the leading independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Gulf." The company was involved in 13 accidents in the region since 2006 and was fined $85,000, according to federal records. In seven of the incidents, inspectors cited possible safety violations. Thursday's explosion prompted swift reactions from environmentalists. "This is one other piece of evidence that demonstrates the human and environment risks of our appetite for offshore oil," said Susan Farady, director of the Marine Affairs Institute at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. She said there have been more than 800 offshore explosions and fires in the Gulf since 2001 and 55 deaths. Meanwhile, workers took another step Thursday toward permanently plugging BP's well. They prepared to remove the well's giant blowout preventer from the seafloor as soon as Thursday night, said retired admiral Thad Allen, head of the federal government's response. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more ||||| An oil platform exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in protective "Gumby suits." 
 
 Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, of the coast of Louisiana., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. All 13 crew members were rescued. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Associated Press) 
 
 Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. All 13 crew members were rescued. (AP Photo/Gerald... (Associated Press) 
 
 Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. All 13 crew members were rescued. (AP Photo/Gerald... (Associated Press) 
 
 Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, of the coast of Louisiana., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. All 13 crew members were rescued. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Associated Press) 
 
 The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill. But hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill. 
 
 The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast. 
 
 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out. 
 
 The Coast Guard said Mariner Energy reported the oil sheen. But the company said in a public statement that an initial flyover of the platform did not reveal any spilled oil. 
 
 Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery. Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf. 
 
 By late afternoon, the fire on the platform was out. 
 
 The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion. 
 
 Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor. 
 
 A homeland security update obtained by The Associated Press said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil. 
 
 White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration has "response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water." 
 
 Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in insulated survival outfits called "Gumby suits" for their resemblance to the cartoon character. 
 
 "These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those Gumby suits before they entered the water," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said. 
 
 The crew was being flown to a hospital in Houma. The Coast Guard said one person was injured, but the company said there were no injuries. 
 
 A company report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008. 
 
 There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry. 
 
 Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like the Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed. 
 
 "A production platform is much more stable," said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. "On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig." 
 
 In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board. 
 
 Many platforms, especially those in shallower water, stand on legs that are drilled into the sea floor. Like a giant octopus, they spread numerous pipelines across the sea floor and can tap into many wells at once. 
 
 Platforms do not have blowout preventers, but they are usually equipped with a series of redundant valves that can shut off oil and gas at different points along the pipeline. 
 
 Numerous platforms were damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms broke pipelines and oil spilled into the Gulf. But the platforms successfully kept major spills from happening, Radford said. 
 
 "Those safety valves did their job," he said. 
 
 Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last four years, according to safety records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. 
 
 The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service. 
 
 In 2007, welding sparks falling onto an oil storage tank caused a flash fire that slightly burned a contract worker. The Minerals Management Service issued a $35,000 fine. 
 
 Mariner Energy Inc. focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf. In April, Apache Corp., another independent oil company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariner's debt. That deal is pending. 
 
 On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well. The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totaled 206 million gallons of oil. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Chris Kahn in New York, Eileen Sullivan, Matthew Daly and Gerry Bodlander in Washington, Garance Burke in Fresno, Calif., and researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report. ||||| U.S. Coast Guard Response boats work to clean up crude oil where the Deepwater Horizon sank Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico. The mobile drilling platform was engulfed in flames after an explosion Tuesday. Share Print Share 
 
 A drilling rig that burned for more than a day before sinking Thursday has fouled Gulf of Mexico waters with a potentially major spill of crude oil, officials said. 
 
 The collapse of the oil rig could disgorge up to 336,000 gallons of crude a day into waters about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. 
 
 U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the sunken rig, the Deepwater Horizon, increased the threat for environmental damage, which previously appeared minimal. 
 
 With new challenges from the collapsed rig, a growing assemblage of cleanup crews began to work in the area, hoping to stop the oil before the spill were to reach the shore. 
 
 Meteorologists predicted a change in the Gulf's current today that would push the oil toward the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines. 
 
 But Landry said the spill isn't expected to reach the coast. “We have the ability to keep it offshore,” she said. 
 
 BP, the oil company that leased the offshore rig, said it had mobilized four aircraft that can spread chemicals to break up the oil and 32 vessels that can recover more than 171,000 barrels of oil a day from the surface. 
 
 BP officials also expected to have a million feet of boom in place to help contain the spill by today. 
 
 “We have contingency plans in place to respond to any anticipated situation, and the full resources of BP are being mobilized to implement those plans,” said David Rainey, vice president of Gulf exploration for BP. 
 
 Even then, federal and BP officials said it wasn't clear whether oil was flowing from the well after the platform sank because they didn't know what was happening underwater. 
 
 Water will dilute pollution 
 
 On the surface, cleanup crews observed a sheen of a crude oil mix on the water, a mile wide and five miles long, but it appeared to be from firefighting efforts at the rig, Landry said. 
 
 She said there's another 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel onboard the platform that could also spill. 
 
 The rig was in nearly mile-deep waters in an area known as the Mississippi Canyon. It's home to whales, dolphins, sport fish and sea birds. 
 
 Still, experts said the oil will do less damage at sea than along the coast because the water will quickly dilute the pollution. What's more, they suggested, the marine animals likely scattered after the rig exploded. 
 
 “It will affect some things on the surface, but it won't have the same devastating effect as one on the beach,” said Gilbert Rowe, head of the marine biology department at Texas A&M; University in Galveston. “I'm less worried about toxicity than annoying birds and animals with this slimy stuff.” 
 
 But Aaron Viles, of the Gulf Restoration Network, an advocacy group, said the spill demonstrated the cost of offshore drilling. He said the oil could affect a bustling fishery and the spawning grounds for the over-fished Western Atlantic bluefin tuna. 
 
 “There are always smaller spills that get overlooked,” Viles said. “This one puts the cost of offshore oil and gas exploration into focus.” 
 
 matthew.tresaugue@chron.com
– Confusion reigns in the aftermath of today's oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. This much good news stands: All 13 crew members were rescued from the water. Everything else is changing quickly. The Coast Guard spoke of a mile-long oil slick at the site but now says it can't find evidence of any oil in the water. Early reports said the platform wasn't producing any oil or gas, but Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal now says it had seven active wells. The Coast Guard hasn't confirmed reports that crew members were able to shut them down before bailing. The platform, owned by Houston's Mariner Energy, was producing 59,000 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day and could store 4,200 gallons of oil, reports the AP, citing federal figures. If there is a spill of some sort, the relatively shallow depth of 340 feet should make cleanup easier. More coverage in the Times-Picayune and USA Today.