The Commonwealth is threatening to take back control of major environmental approvals from the Queensland Government, amid a public war of words over a multi-billion dollar mine project.

The two governments had been working on a single environmental approval process for the Alpha Coal Project in central Queensland.

But Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says the Queensland Government has not upheld its end of the deal, because the State Government's assessment report does not meet Commonwealth standards.

"I cannot have a situation in front of me where you have thousands of jobs on the line, and the environmental asset at stake is known as the Great Barrier Reef, be subject to this sort of political game," he said.

"I want a streamlined approach, I don't want a shambolic joke, and that is what Queensland is wanting me to accept."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 3 seconds 4 m 3 s Qld Alpha project assessment 'shambolic joke'says Burke Download 1.9 MB

Last week, Mr Burke requested more information from the Queensland Government, arguing the state's assessment process was deficient.

But Queensland's Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney rejects that, and is insisting on a Federal Government decision on the coal mining project within 30 business days.

"The actions of the Federal Minister Tony Burke last week were unbecoming of a federal minister," Mr Seeney told Queensland Parliament.

"They would be unbecoming of any politician who was concerned about the future of Queensland and concerned about the future of Australia."

Mr Burke says representatives from the Alpha Coal Project have flown to Canberra and have this morning met with Federal Government officials.

He says until he gets more information, he has "stopped the clock" on the assessment process, and is considering suspending the bilateral agreement for all environmental approvals.

"If there is a suspension - as I am considering - of the bilateral agreement from Queensland, it will mean they will become the state where, by their own actions, we've ended up with no choice but to have a full duplicated process," Mr Burke said.

The Federal Government says it hopes to make a decision on the Alpha Coal Project as soon as possible.