It's a noise Susan Clay and countless Ezra Prentice residents have grown accustomed to over the years: a booming sound they no longer want to hear.
"I mean, I can just jump out of my bedroom window and land on the trains," Clay said.
For years, crude oil has been transported by train at the Port of Albany, just steps away from the public housing project. Wednesday night, residents voiced their concerns to local officials, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Environmental Conservation.
"And beside the obvious noise, I lay In bed at night and think of an escape plan if it blows up," Clay said.
It's not just the trains residents are concerned about; the south end neighborhood sees several trucks traveling to the port as well. They say a combination of the two releases harmful chemicals into their air.
"I got congestive heart failure and I'm on five medications," Clay said. "I come to find out six more people in this area have heart failure."
A preliminary study done by Avillage and the Radix Center shows nearly 50 percent of about 200 residents polled have allergies and hay fever. More than 30 percent of them have asthma.
Those are numbers Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan was shocked to see.
"This is a neighborhood that should enjoy the same high quality of life as any other neighborhood in the city of Albany," the mayor said.
Wednesday night, the DEC urged the EPA to develop stronger national standards for emission of fuel, saying the state can only do so much.
"What we want the administrator to do before she leaves office is to reduce the levels of nitrogen oxide that can be emitted from trucks," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "That will help us as a state to go out and enforce against dirty trucks, and also to impose stricter limits on benzene that is emitted from trucks."
It's that reassurance residents like Clay want to hear instead of truck noises.
The DEC has agreed to free up $500,000 to do enhanced air monitoring of diesel emissions in the area, which they believe will help them understand and treat health risks residents here say they are dealing with.