WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's efforts to prop up the coal industry are unlikely to change the trajectory in Texas, where one coal-fired plant is expected to close at the end of the year, five years after the closure was announced.

The JT Deely plant in San Antonio, opened in 1977, would be the fourth coal-fired plant to close this year in Texas.

Irving-based Luminant shuttered three aging plants early this year that accounted for 20 percent of coal use in the Texas energy sector, and 4 percent of the state's entire generating capacity, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which operates the grid for most of the state.

Cheap natural gas and plentiful wind energy in Texas made the plants unprofitable.

And Josh Rhodes, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute, said the rules announced this week by the EPA that loosen Obama-era regulations would not be enough to change that.

“Some power plants might run a little while longer, but anything that doesn’t pay for itself in just a couple years will be hard to do,” Rhodes said.

Texas still has 25 coal-fired plants operating and the most coal-fired capacity of any state, measured in gigawatt units — about 9 percent of the national total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The previous owner of the Coleto Creek plant in Goliad County, operating since 1980, considered closing it but ended up selling last year to Houston-based Dynegy, which owns six coal-fired plants in Texas. Coleto Creek remains open.

Regulatory requirements also are part of the equation for power suppliers. As far back as 2011, the company that owned the Deely plant began planning to shutter it this year — 15 years ahead of schedule — to avoid $550 million in environmental retrofits.

Joanne Spalding, chief climate counsel and deputy legal director for the Sierra Club, an environmental group that advocates for curbing the use of coal, said economic factors and the need for upgrades will determine if plants can stay open. But, she said, the EPA easing regulations is worrisome because Texas has so many coal-fired plants and its power plants produce more greenhouse gas than those in any other state.

“The state is not doing anything about carbon emissions, and the plan does not require the state to do much of anything,” Spalding said.

A sign of the old Alcoa Rockdale Power Plant at the former coal-fired Sandow power plant near Rockdale on June 14. The electric generating power plant owned by a subsidiary of Luminant was shut down in 2018. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)

One of Trump's major campaign promises was to revive the U.S. coal industry and bring back jobs. And he and his appointees — including Energy Secretary Rick Perry — have described coal as an important foundation of the nation's electricity supply.

Under the Trump administration’s new plan, states would have up to three years to create plans for coal-fired plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some of those changes could include making “efficiency improvements” at the plants.

Spalding said if plants can make minor changes to comply with regulatory requirements, while remaining economically viable, the EPA’s plan would have done what the Trump administration has promised. But because coal competes with cheaper power sources like wind and natural gas, facility changes at coal plants would be difficult.

“These power plants would not be able to get a guaranteed rate of return on any capital improvements,” Rhodes said. “Financing for any type of coal plant modifications is going to be hard to come by.”

In 2015, Texas was one of 24 states to sue the EPA over the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. Texas, controlled by Republicans, sued the agency 31 times during the Obama administration.

Analysts expect Gov. Greg Abbott to put lax emission rules in place even as market forces continue to encourage power companies to reduce their reliance on coal.