Carmel Flint, a campaigner for Lock the Gate Alliance, said it was "an absolute disgrace" the government had dropped requirements for a full environmental impact assessment [EIS] when much smaller projects had to compile them. These include the 19-kilometre Olive Downs pipeline involving similar threatened species as Adani's. Loading Treating Adani's pipeline as separate from its mine "created a legal fiction" that "undermines the objects of the water trigger and its legal provisions", Ms Flint said. "If they can do it, every one of the other big miners will too." Adani, department respond A spokeswoman for Adani said the company “has no input to the Department’s decision on whether the project is a controlled action or the chosen assessment methodology".

"The water trigger has already been applied to the extraction of coal and associated activities under the Carmichael Project approvals,” she said. While Adani's approvals allow it to harvest as much as 12 billion litres from the Suttor River catchment, the average annual water use on the mine "will be significantly less than this as detailed in the EIS", the spokeswoman said. It can only be taken from the catchment "during peak flood events and after other water users have first taken their allocation", she said. "As flooding will only happen occasionally, water will be stored for future use.” Fairfax Media sought comment from new environment minister Melissa Price. Ms Price's office directed questions to the department. A department spokeswoman said: "stand-alone proposals which involve only associated infrastructure, such as pipelines, are not captured by the water trigger because they do not directly involve the extraction of coal."

The decision to seek only "preliminary documentation" was because the "complexity of potential impacts are low and locally confined, with potential impacts on a small number of nationally listed plants and animals, including the Ornamental Snake", the spokeswoman said. 'Massive risk' Opponents have highlighted the pipeline approval at the time when central Queensland is in the midst of a drought, with "severe" deficiencies stretching back at least 17 months, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The company is also being investigated for drilling a series of groundwater bores without approval, the ABC has reported. “Adani should not be getting fast-tracked by the federal minister while there is a huge legal cloud hanging over their conduct," Bruce Currie, a grazier from central Queensland, said.

“The combined impacts of the Adani mine on groundwater and now river water pose a massive risk to our region," he said. ” Adani disputes the description of the bores saying there were five bores and they were not illegal. Fairfax Media understands, though, that the Queensland government is investigating six bores in total. Adani has scaled back the rail connection needed to link its proposed Galilee Basin coal mine to its Abbot Point port terminal. Credit:Glenn Hunt 'Talking points' Separately, the Australian Conservation Foundation released a document obtained under freedom of information laws that suggests the Environment Department had approved the North Galilee Water Scheme by June 13 this year even though the public comment period ran until 12 days later.

The "Talking Points" outline answers to questions "is Adani avoiding federal scrutiny of water-related issues?" and "how does the water trigger work under national law?" It is not clear who was expected to repeat the answers. Adani protestors on the front lawn of Parliament House in Canberra in February this year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Christian Slattery, an ACF campaigner, said the government appeared "to have made up its mind not to apply the water trigger to Adani’s water-guzzling project, even while the period for public consultation was still running". “It’s not surprising many Australians are cynical about government processes when it seems public consultation is just for show," he said. The department spokeswoman said the talking points "don't say a decision has been made".

Cutting back Adani has been taking other steps to improve the prospects of its Carmichael mine, including redesigning its rail plans to cut costs. The Indian company said it ditched plans to develop its own 388-kilometre rail line and would instead build a 200-kilometre narrow-gauge connection to an existing network. "By connecting to the existing network, we can fast-track project delivery, reduce capital expenditure and deliver coal more quickly to countries in Asia with growing energy markets," Lucas Dow, chief executive of Adani Mining, said. The railway could support annual output of 27.4 million tonnes of coal from the mine, about half the size originally conceived.