Swap debt for nature: The U.S. will cancel $20 million of Peru’s debt payments; in exchange, Peru will use the money for conservation projects in the Amazon rainforest. (Treasury Department)
USDA rural development nominee: President Biden tabbed Basil Gooden, a former Virginia state agriculture secretary, to serve as Agriculture undersecretary for rural development, succeeding Xochitl Torres Small, who is now deputy secretary. (White House)
Reject Summit pipeline application: The South Dakota state Public Utilities Commission denied a permit for Summit Carbon Solutions to build what it calls the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project just days after rejecting the Navigator CO2 pipeline application. (Mitchell Republic)
Billion-dollar disaster record: The United States has been struck by 23 weather and climate disasters with individual losses exceeding $1 billion so far this year, topping 2020’s record of 22 such billion-dollar disasters. (NOAA)
Explosion rocks ADM plant: Corn and soybean processing was shut down at ADM’s massive Decatur, Illinois, plant following an explosion and fire that injured eight workers. (WCIA-TV)