Greater New Orleans, Inc. recently released a Gulf Permit Index (GPI) that shows the Obama Administration is in no hurry to issue drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico and end the de facto moratorium that has left thousands of Americans out of work.

GNO, Inc. found that to date only two deep water permits have been issued since the deep water drilling moratorium was officially listed last October. In addition, shallow water permit approvals have been far below average since the Deepwater Horizon incident last summer.

Every day America’s drilling rig platforms sit idle in the Gulf, 80,000 barrels/day, or four percent of 2011 total production is lost, putting good-paying American jobs in jeopardy.

The charts below show a dramatic decline in the issuance of deep and shallow water permits.

GPI as of January 18, 2011