Queensland's deputy premier has suggested Clive Palmer's plans for a new coal-fired power station might be another one of his pipe dreams.
Steven Miles won't yet use his call-in powers to halt the project because he doubts it will happen.
"Oh look, I try to not get too worried about anything Clive says or does," Mr Miles told reporters on Friday.
"It was a while ago now he announced we're to be getting a Titanic, we still don't have a Titanic. It was a while ago he announced we'd be getting a dinosaur park, we still don't have a dinosaur park."
He said Mr Palmer's latest "thought bubble" faced a long approvals process and he would let that play out.
Asked if he'd exercise his call-in powers, the deputy premier replied: "It's a long way from needing to take that kind of action."
Conservationists have urged Mr Miles to intervene and stop Mr Palmer's company, Waratah Coal, building the $3.5 billion plant near the outback town of Alpha.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has accused the company of trying to sidestep conventional approval processes by lodging is development application with the Barcaldine Regional Council in central Queensland.
Barcaldine Mayor Sean Dillon told the ABC's 7.30 program it was "virtually without precedent" for such a project to be left in the hands of a council.
But he also denied the local authority was out of its depth, saying it had used contract town planners and had engaged with relevant state agencies.
A spokesman for Mr Palmer has told AAP that Waratah Coal's application to the council for a material change of use is "absolutely a normal process".
The state government has said Queensland does not need another power station given it has a young fleet of publicly owned coal-fired generators.
It's also said the council must wait for advice from the State Assessment and Referral Agency before making a decision on the plant.
The environment department is assessing an application for environmental authority to build it but any consultation relating to the social impact assessment will be a matter for the council.
ACF spokesman Jason Liddith said it was wrong for a company to use local planning laws designed to deal with things like carports to get a coal-fired power plant across the line.
"The Queensland government should be setting our state's climate and energy policy - not Clive Palmer," Mr Liddith has told AAP.
"A power plant as big as Stanwell is clearly a project that affects Queensland's economy and environment. This plan flies in the face of efforts to prevent catastrophic climate change, to save the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree and the Wet Tropics."
Mr Palmer declined to respond to the deputy premier's comments.
Australian Associated Press
