Seneca Lake

"It's an annoyance," says Ellen Campbell, who owns a house on Seneca Lake a short distance away.

For Salpeter, Sweet and the team at Sweet Farm Foundation, their new animal sanctuary on the west shores of Seneca Lake in Himrod, New York, the problem was all too familiar.

Another was brought by Seneca Lake Guardian, an environmental group, against the state for approving a waste transfer station that could leak toxic chemicals into Cayuga Lake, a source of drinking water.

Red Newt is on the east side of Seneca Lake, the longest and deepest of the Finger Lakes.

That drew outrage from some local residents worried about how the plant could affect fish and tourism by discharging hot water into nearby Seneca Lake.