The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is emerging as a powerful ally in the years-long fight to get Minnesota to protect wild rice beds from sulfate pollution.

Tribal and environmental groups have repeatedly pushed the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to address the issue. Now, the EPA has informed the state agency that it is partially disapproving Minnesota’s most recent Clean Water Act Impaired Waters List because the list doesn’t include rivers or lakes loaded with sulfate, which kills off wild rice beds over time.

The Impaired Waters List is prepared every two years...