Opinion Number

Gentlemen:

Via separate requests to this Office you have asked for our opinion on the legality of a private party gating a portion of the Amite River. Because the requests are virtually identical and because they relate to the same matter, all issues are considered in this one Attorney General`s opinion.

Introduction and Background

The specific facts related to these requests are important to the legal analysis that follows and will therefore be summarized here. During the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers ("the Corps") made several channels along the Amite River to improve…