Anger at the recent industrial smells released recently – ­compounded by the oil-like ­substance that spilled beside Stony Creek on Tuesday – brought calls from the public for the EPA to hold a meeting.

Adam Gilligan, Hunter Region EPA manager, told the Mercury on Wednesday he would be happy to ­organise a public meeting in the next couple of weeks.

Amid mounting pressure from angry Rutherford residents who demanded a solution to the odour problem, Mr Gilligan said: “The EPA has invested significant amounts of money and effort into addressing particular odour issues in the Rutherford area.”

This had been done to some degree, by identifying industries most likely to cause air pollution.

Mr Gilligan said the EPA had been through the process of putting pollution reduction programs on those premises.

If the EPA was able to identify who was responsible for the oil spill, they would ­probably consider a $15,000 fine for water pollution.

Mr Gilligan stressed the importance of people being specific about the type of smells they reported.

“Describing the smell accurately is ­critical for us to build a case and take action,” he said.

“We aim to address the main sources of odours, but there are always likely to be occasional issues in an industrial area with a range of activities.”

Steve Jordan, a member of the former Rutherford Air Quality Liaison Committee, said: “The EPA needs to explain to people why this problem has been going on for so long and what they are doing to fix it.

“I believe the EPA know those industries responsible for emitting the odours and they must justify what they are doing about it.”