EARL POWER: Hurricane Earl weakened to a Category 3 storm early this morning, but forecasters warn it's still a powerful hurricane that could wreak havoc along the U.S. East Coast well into Labor Day weekend. It's currently producing maximum sustained winds of about 125 mph, while moving 16 mph on a northwesterly path that's headed right for coastal North Carolina. The National Hurricane Center expects Earl to reach the Mid-Atlantic Coast by around 2 a.m. Friday, but a big landfall isn't likely — thanks to a high-pressure system over New England, the storm is projected to curl back to the east as it approaches Cape Cod, possibly grazing the rest of the East Coast as it churns toward Nova Scotia. But Earl doesn't need to blow ashore to cause trouble: It may have already killed two people in Florida and Maryland by generating strong rip currents, and even a glancing blow could trigger dangerous storm surges and beach erosion from Wilmington, N.C., to Wilmington, Del. Officials in Hyde County, N.C., have already begun evacuating residents and tourists from Okracoke Island in the Outer Banks, while the NHC has issued hurricane watches in other parts of the state and the Navy has warned ships off the Virginia coast they may be sent out to sea. "The surf is going to be rough, the waves are going to be high, and the rip tides are going to be dangerous," one forecaster tells the New York Times. "People could get swept out to sea if they try to go into the ocean. It will be a major wave producer." Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Fiona is no longer expected to become a hurricane, likely fading away at sea this weekend, but there's another bun in the oven — the NHC reports a broad area of low pressure off the west African coast has an 80 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours. (Sources: National Hurricane Center, New York Times, CBS News, ABC News)

 

BAGGING RIGHTS: A plan to ban plastic shopping bags in California was shot down late Tuesday by the state Senate, as Republicans and some Democrats argued it would be too costly for consumers and could even kill jobs in the cash-strapped state. Defeated by a vote of 20-14, the bill would have banned plastic bags in supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores, taking effect for large retailers in 2012 and smaller ones a year later. It also would have made California the first state to establish such a ban, although several cities across the state have already enacted their own versions. San Francisco was the first to do so in 2007, and has since been followed by Palo Alto, Malibu and Fairfax, with another ban in Manhattan Beach tied up in litigation. Supporters point to the flood of plastic trash that litters California beaches — and feeds the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — and argue that phasing out plastic bags is a matter of civic and environmental responsibility. But critics called the proposal a "jobs killer" that was out of touch Californians' economic woes, and Sen. Mimi Walters went as far as suggesting it would tell voters that "we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table." The bill's author says lawmakers let Californians down by ignoring the problem, but insists the battle against plastic bags isn't over. "It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when consumers bring their own bags and become good stewards of the environment," Assemblywoman Julia Brownley said in a statement this morning. (Sources: Sacramento Bee, Associated Press)

 

NO SALMON FAMINE: After years of falling sockeye salmon stocks, Canada's West Coast is having a "crazy" salmon run this summer, the Vancouver Sun reports. The estimated total of 25 million salmon is not only more than double what was originally forecast for this season, it's 25 times larger than last year's run, and the biggest overall since 1913. It's a stark difference from 2009, when around 1 million sockeye returned to their spawning grounds, a trickle of fish that led the Canadian government to close the Fraser River to both commercial and recreational sockeye fishing for the third year in a row. The dramatic boost to this year's run remains a mystery, but one fish biologist tells Reuters it can be partly explained by the species' reproductive cycles. "Every fourth year is the dominant year when the biggest run comes in," he says. "The year after that is sub-dominant. Then you get two really low runs." But this year's salmon extravaganza is bizarre even for a dominant year, and while it's thrilling local salmon fishermen and aficionados, it's actually a problem for the sockeye salmon industry. "It is an amazing thing, but the problem is that this has come along when the market has been lost," the owner of a regional fishing company tells Reuters. "Now we have all this fish and we can't do a lot with it." (Sources: Vancouver Sun, Reuters)

 

BOTTLE SHOCK: Change isn't popular in France's Champagne region, where historic vineyards have persisted since Roman times, but as the New York Times reports today, the famous wine country has begun to embrace a very subtle transformation to a key part of its business — bottles — that could significantly help the planet. "This is how we're remaking the future of Champagne," a local vintner tells the Times, pointing just below the neck of a bottle. "We're slimming the shoulders to make the bottle lighter, so our carbon footprint will be reduced to help keep Champagne here for future generations." The plan is to slash the industry's annual output of carbon dioxide, which totals around 200,000 metric tons and is driven largely by the need to ship its world-famous product around the world. The new bottles don't look very different, but they use 2.3 fewer ounces of glass, thanks to strategic thinning of their thickness, primarily at their shoulders. Wineries worldwide have been falling all over themselves for years to be seen as "green," but as the Times points out, Champagne is determined to carry itself with more dignity — and caution — by eschewing boastful labels and "eco-friendly" marketing pushes. "Champagne is sometimes more humble than it should be," says a representative from the region's trade organization. "Much is done for the promotion of the environment, but it's kept quiet because we want to make sure each step is perfect." But while the new bottles will save winemakers money and carbon, they are the result of a careful balancing act between progress and tradition, explains another spokesman for the trade group. "The bottle is part of Champagne's image," he says, "and we don't want to affect it." (Source: New York Times)

 

— Russell McLendon