The planned 3,500-megawatt high-tension power line has been proposed to deliver electricity from Kansas to western Indiana. Crossing Missouri and Illinois, the projected 780-mile-long Grain Belt Express would be used to deliver wind-generated energy from the Great Plains to the northeastern United States. Beneficiaries would include electricity suppliers and their customers in places like Ohio and western Pennsylvania where power has traditionally been generated from burning coal. Many Illinois residents, along the route to be followed by the Grain Belt Express high-tension line have expressed concern about health threats that the electric line could generate. The line would run through many counties and small cities in central and southern Illinois, including Alton and Effingham.
In a move that is significant to the entire length of the projected line, the Missouri Public Service Commission (Missouri PSC) has rejected the application by Grain Belt Express to run the line through the “Show Me State.” This move marked the second time that Missouri PSC has rejected Grain Belt’s application, and the repeated position places completion of the line, may now be under some pressure to change the parameters of its proposal, or to drop the project altogether.