In March 2019, Clover Flat Land Fill spilled 40,000 gallons of leachate into nearby streams, which are tributaries of the Napa River, Haley said in a news release. Leachate is a liquid created when water runs through the waste in a landfill. Investigators looking into the spill also uncovered other alleged violations, including a road built through what had been a stream and the unauthorized removal of trees and other vegetation, according to prosecutors.
The scientist traipses to a pond wearing rubber boots but he doesn't enter the water. Instead, Brad Hollingsworth squats next to its swampy edge and retrieves a recording device the size of a deck of cards. He then opens it up and removes a tiny memory card containing 18 hours of sound. Back at his office at the San Diego Natural History Museum, the herpetologist an expert in reptiles and amphibians uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data on the card.
