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Property owner diverted Rapidan River without getting any permits Date published: 6/18/2004 By RUSTY DENNEN In May, Dusty Rhodes brought in heavy equipment and headed for the Rapidan River, which runs along his Orange County farm near Somerset. According to state and federal regulators, he blocked and diverted a section of the river, placed tons of fill material in the Rapidan, built an access road and denuded part of the riverbank--all without obtaining the proper permits. Rhodes' project has drawn a stop-work order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a letter of violation from Orange County, a lawsuit from the owner of a neighboring farm, and the possibility of sanctions from the Environmental Protection Agency. "You cannot go out and change the course of a river without getting the proper permits," said Hal Wiggins, biologist with the Corps of Engineers' Fredericksburg office. Efforts to reach Rhodes, the owner of Rhodesland Plantation, were unsuccessful. He lives in Dayton in Augusta County. His attorney, R. Lee Stephens of Richmond, declined to discuss the case. In April 2001, Rhodes wanted to correct a serious erosion problem along a bend in the river adjacent to his property. Rhodes grows corn and other grains on the farm. Wiggins visited the site and sent Rhodes a letter saying that he would need a permit under the federal Clean Water Act for any dredging or filling in the river. Last September, high water from Hurricane Isabel further eroded Rhodes' land, enlarging a gravel bar in the river that made the problem worse. Farmers are allowed to remove gravel obstructions without a corps permit, Wiggins said. But when Rhodes began removing gravel in mid-May, he went far beyond that by blocking the existing river channel, creating a new one farther into the river and improperly placing the fill material in the waterway. After neighbors complained, the Corps of Engineers revisited the site, and in a May 20 letter ordered him to stop work.
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