“This will have a significant impact. We’re losing jobs, well-paying jobs, and we will see a decrease in our tax base,” Freestone County Judge Linda Grant said. “This is a tremendous blow for a county our size.”

The county of about 20,000 residents has reduced the tax value of Big Brown for several years, but at $65 million, it remained the largest tax revenue generator in the county, Grant said.

Grant was away from her office when reached for comment Friday and did not have exact numbers on revenue produced by Big Brown. She did say the loss could make an increase in the tax rate necessary.

Russell Devorsky, executive director of the Heart of Texas Council of Governments, said the shuttering of Big Brown “will have a devastating impact short-term,” but wondered if the plant site might make an ideal location for a modern facility because of its proximity to the electric grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

“From a pollution standpoint, Big Brown is an old coal-firing plant, so air quality in Central Texas should benefit,” Devorsky said. “It went online in the early 1970s and was designed to last 40 years, which it has.”