Greens MLC and energy and resources spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham has announced a proposal to limit extraction to one billion tonnes over the next decade before phasing it out completely.

He plans to introduce a bill into state parliament this week.

Lithgow has Springvale and Clarence mines, as well as nearby Airly, that all produce thermal coal and deputy mayor Wayne McAndrew said they were invaluable to the town.

He said a move away from thermal coal in a decade was “nonsense” and had the potential to cripple Lithgow’s economy, as well as the state’s power supply.

“What The Greens are proposing is just madness. It’s being pedalled by them with no grasp on reality,” Cr McAndrew said.

“It wouldn’t just be jobs in the mines that would be lost. For every direct employee of the mines, there is another three or four in transport, engineering and other aspects.

“I can’t stand by and watch someone propose a nonsense idea that would kill my town.”

Mr Buckingham, who is based in Orange, said The Greens were being prudent in establishing their framework for a thermal coal shutdown according to science.

“We have run out of time,” he said.

“We are teetering on the edge of disaster and must act seriously now or we will lock in catastrophic levels of global warming with the significant environmental, economic and social disasters that will be caused by a changing climate.

“A transition away from coal is inevitable. The real question is whether we transition fast enough to protect the climate, and whether it is a managed transition, or a chaotic collapse.”

However a move away from thermal coal could leave Australia without an effective method of generating base-load electricity, Cr McAndrew said.

“There is no doubt there will be a mix in the future that might include wind, solar, gas and others but the major issue is with base-load,” he said.

“At the moment, we need coal for that base-load. Without it, it won’t work. And in Mt Piper, Lithgow has one of the newest and cleanest ways of generating base-load power.”

The council approved a motion at its last meeting to encourage EnergyAustralia, the owners of Mt Piper Power Station, to construct two extra generating units at the site. The deputy mayor conceded Lithgow needed to look at alternative employment opportunities in the future to ensure it wasn’t too reliant on coal.

“I don’t think we have any choice but I’m not going to write off coal either,” Cr McAndrew said. “We aren’t sitting on our laurels, the council is going to push for the expansion of the jail.”

Cr McAndrew said the unemployment rate in Lithgow was a major concern and one council was looking to try and fix, but said coal was an important part of that.