Our most tangible community presence is the infrastructure that our customers rely on for safe, reliable energy delivery. We are committed to maintaining and modernizing our systems for today's and future generations.
Our infrastructure modernization programs also produce significant near-term economic development benefits to the communities we serve. Our infrastructure modernization projects have created more than 100 new positions at NiSource and hundreds of local construction jobs, including pipefitters, welders, heavy equipment operators and other contractors.
Our investments also generate new property tax revenue for local governments and school districts, as well as income, sales and other taxes for state and local governments. In total, NiSource contributed nearly $435 million in taxes in 2011.
Our investments also generate additional spending by other industries and from income generated by the new jobs. According to a study by Kleinhenz & Associates, our Ohio system modernization program alone is expected to have a $4 billion impact on Ohio’s economy over 25 years, supporting nearly 1,500 jobs annually in construction, manufacturing, technical, retail and services sectors. It will also generate $212 million in new tax revenue over the life of the program.