Jefferson City, Mo.(AP)--Just weeks after winning a key regulatory approval, one the nation's largest wind energy projects is facing a new obstacle from Missouri legislation that could prevent the proposed high-voltage power line from being strung across the property of uncooperative landowners.

A Missouri House panel advanced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit the use of eminent domain to acquire easements for the Grain Belt Express project. The proposed 750-mile transmission line would carry wind power from Kansas across Missouri and Illinois into Indiana, where it would connect to a power grid that serves eastern states.

The $2.3 billion project has been repeatedly delayed by regulatory hurdles and court battles but won a significant victory in March, when Missouri's utility regulatory commission reversed its previous denials and approved the project. Missouri's "certificate of convenience and necessity" deems it a public utility, which allows it to pursue condemnation cases in local courts against landowners who refuse to sell easements.

The legislation is intended to block that — either forcing the power line to zig zag around unwilling sellers or zapping it altogether.