Lawyers for the developers of the Grain Belt Express power line and Illinois utility regulators said a state appellate court erred last month when it overturned approval of a permit for the $7 billion project, throwing its future into limbo.
They made their case during oral arguments before the Illinois Supreme Court, the latest plot twist in a decadelong effort to build the 780-mile Grain Belt Express line to deliver renewable energy from windy, sunny southwest Kansas to the nation’s largest electricity market, PJM Interconnection.
On the other side was a lawyer for the Illinois Farm Bureau who represented the agribusiness lobby and a group of southern Illinois landowners. They argued the lower court got it right when it overturned the 2024 approval of the project by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
The Farm Bureau and landowners said state approval of the project would allow Invenergy to seek condemnation of property through eminent domain proceedings for a power line that won’t benefit Illinois.
