The Rutherford stink saga took a new turn on Sunday with several residents calling on the Environment Protection Authority to hold a meeting to explain why the smells persist.
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Their calls came after another brief bout of emissions on Friday, following an earlier release the day before.
The EPA said that during the past two weeks it had received 26 complaints about odours emanating from the Rutherford industrial estate.
“I want the EPA to hold a public meeting and tell people why this stench problem is still happening – after $400,000 was spent trying to solve it by setting up the Rutherford Air Quality Liaison Committee and various studies,” Steve Jordan, who played a leading part in the campaign, said.
“If the EPA called a meeting, I think a couple of hundred people would attend.
“A lot of people complain, but they also want to protect the value of their houses.
“At our public meetings during the anti-stink campaign, about 10 people would turn up, worried that their property would devalue if they spoke at meetings.
“But if the EPA held a meeting, they could tell us what is going on now.
“Things have not improved and in all this heartbreak, it has been easier for some people to just sell up and go somewhere else.
“I have heard from some of them since they moved and they say the health of their families has never been better.”
Mr Jordan said the formation of the Rutherford Air Quality Liaison Committee, comprising members of industry, the EPA and local people, had been hailed as a success and an example to others.
“What we did was supposed to solve the problem and people need to know what it has not,” he said.
Other angry people have contacted the Mercury about the continuing smells and said they were sending their complaints to Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison and to the Environment Minister Mark Speakman.
