And this time it's going to cost $1.25 million.

It’s been a difficult week for Puget Sound Energy’s relationship with the state.

First, on Monday, Public Counsel Chief Simon ffitch, who represents the public interest for the state Attorney General, said a proposed PSE rate increase is “excessive.” He asked that people contact regulators to voice their opinions.

Then today, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission announced a fine against PSE for $1.25 million – levied because of “fraudulent natural gas pipeline inspection records spanning a four-year period.”

The fine is the largest penalty ever imposed by the state on a natural-gas distribution company.

The commission issued the penalty “for record-keeping violations committed by the utility’s Kirkland- based subcontractor, Pilchuck Contractors, Inc. Although Pilchuck performed the inspections and prepared and maintained PSE’s safety records, PSE is legally responsible for its pipeline-inspection program and for required record-keeping,” the commission said in a release.

“Accurate record-keeping is a critical component of pipeline safety and vital to the commission’s ability to perform safety inspections,” said Mark Sidran, commission chairman. “Falsifying safety records is a particularly serious violation, warranting a serious penalty.”

Puget acknowledges the seriousness of the matter.

Sue McLain, senior vice president of operations at the utility, said this afternoon that both PSE and Pilchuck “took corrective actions to improve our record-keeping practices and procedures.”

The staff investigation into the matter, she said, “looked at a lot of records, of which 90 percent were accurate. Ten percent were not, and there was this falsification. We take that very seriously, and we take full responsibility.”

McLain wants to assure people that the previous error, two years old, has been mediated – and that daily inspections of the system continue “to ensure it is safe and reliable.”

I got a call this morning from Lois Warlick-Jarvie, senior vice president of administration for Birds Eye Foods in Rochester, N.Y. It seems that consumers in the Northwest have been calling the company about the pickle story we ran inside the Business section in today's paper.

Warlick-Jarvie and her company want consumers to know that the "Nalley" brand is not owned by Bay Valley Foods, the company that decided to stop buying cucumbers from Washington growers.

"The pickle business only was sold a number of years ago to Bay Valley, and a licensing agreement was entered into at that time, enabling the new owners to use the Nalley name for marketing pickles," she said.

The other Nalley, which makes Nalley chili, Bernsteins dressings and a number of other dips, dressings and meals in Tacoma, is owned by Birds Eye Foods, and has no involvement with the pickle business that is referenced in the article.

Birds Eye has no control over product sourcing as it relates to the pickle business owned by Bay Valley, she said.

IKEA will no longer offer plastic bags to customers as of Oct. 1.

The retailer started pushing customers toward reusable bags last spring and began charging 5 cents for the disposable plastic versions as part of a plan to reduce the amount of plastic bags the stores used.

Customers can buy a reusable IKEA bag for 59 cents.

The result? More than 92 percent of IKEA's customers said no more plastic bags, the company said Wednesday.

When the bag-the-plastic-bag program began, IKEA set a goal of reducing its U.S. stores’ plastic bag consumption by 50 percent; from 70 million to 35 million plastic bags in the first year.

From a company news release: “IKEA believes home is the most important place in the world. The success of this program truly demonstrates that our customers care deeply about our global home and that we can all work together to be sustainable and environmentally responsible,” said Pernille Spiers-Lopez, president, IKEA North America.
“IKEA applauds its customers for being bold and courageous. Together, we have proven we can shift our behavior and make a notable environmental difference!”

The building under construction on the west side of the Tacoma Mall now has big letters telling shoppers it will be the home of a bigger, better Nordstrom.

Nordstrom spokeswoman Kendall Bingham told me Wednesday night that the company is still working on the plan for the new store that will open Oct. 3 but that Tory Burch was one of the designers that would now be available in Tacoma.

Tory Burch sells shoes and accessories as well as women's clothes. These ballet flats sell for $195.

As for the building now, it's still a shell that wouldn't be recognizable as a Nordstrom, she said. But it is right on schedule.

Anyone have any designers or products they see at other Nordstrom stores that they want here?