The Minnesota Department of Transportation and one of its contractors were fined $235,170 for polluting surface water near a construction site in Koochiching County in 2010, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced this month. Water quality, fish and wildlife habitats were adversely affected when MnDOT and Bemidji-based Northstar Materials Inc., doing business as Knife River Materials, discharged "excessive amounts of construction-related sediment to surface water," the agency said. Northstar was acting as general contractor for the resurfacing of Hwy. 11 and the construction of bridges and culverts near streams, drainages and the Rainy River. MnDot and Northstar remediated the pollution, the agency said. Read the full news release here.