The Missouri Supreme Court has put an end to a legal challenge of the Missouri Public Service Commission's approval of the Grain Belt Express transmission project.

The court on March 17 declined to take up a case brought by landowners against the commission's 2019 decision approving the transmission line to be built by an Invenergy LLC affiliate. In doing so, the court upheld a December 2019 opinion from the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District affirming the commission's decision, Missouri Farm Bureau spokesman Eric Bohl said.

The Missouri Farm Bureau and a group called Show Me Concerned Landowners had separately asked the high court to hear the case.

The Grain Belt Express project would run roughly 780 miles from western Kansas, through Missouri and Illinois, and into Indiana, delivering 500 MW of largely wind-generated power to customers in Missouri and another 3,500 MW to states farther east. Approximately 206 miles of the transmission line is to run through Missouri.

A representative for Invenergy on March 19 did not immediately return a request for comment.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst disagreed with the court's refusal to hear the case.

"Missourians should never be forced to give up their land to an energy conglomerate posing as a utility, but without the responsibility," Hurst said in a statement.

Now that the court has denied the request, the Missouri Farm Bureau will turn its attention to the state legislature, where lawmakers are considering a bill barring developers from using eminent domain to take land for the high-voltage, direct-current transmission line.

The proposal, House Bill 2033, cleared the state House of Representatives in January and is awaiting action in the Senate.