diff --git a/.dev-env b/.dev-env
deleted file mode 100644
index 4704c2d065fb35d932b5e7d00d9d42ffcd40a6f1..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.dev-env
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-API_BASE_URL="http://apply.localhost:8000"
diff --git a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.base.config.js b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.base.config.js
index 8d1aa48a52fdb4364ce01ee5381bd7215f36f3c7..74ed1fe33dc686851ac528c550e589d15395f6a6 100644
--- a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.base.config.js
+++ b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.base.config.js
@@ -10,9 +10,7 @@ module.exports = {
         filename: '[name]-[hash].js'
     },
 
-    plugins: [
-        new Dotenv(),
-    ],
+    plugins: [],
 
     module: {
         rules: [
diff --git a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.dev.config.js b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.dev.config.js
index 35dd1193a7f3b4b938cdc37f2dc6db6f1b495211..73fedc45ccced2de49d461670e6207ad45f6f57a 100644
--- a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.dev.config.js
+++ b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.dev.config.js
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ config.plugins = config.plugins.concat([
     new webpack.HotModuleReplacementPlugin(),
     new webpack.NoEmitOnErrorsPlugin(),
     new BundleTracker({filename: './opentech/static_compiled/app/webpack-stats.json'}),
-    new Dotenv({
-        path: '.dev-env',
+    new webpack.EnvironmentPlugin({
+        API_BASE_URL: 'http://apply.localhost:8000/',
     }),
 ])
 
diff --git a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.prod.config.js b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.prod.config.js
index 9b0ff64acf263045ea57e046147492c9f347a7d2..9f85413c07e0cc3b652e0fb7135b675e634dfe07 100644
--- a/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.prod.config.js
+++ b/opentech/static_src/src/app/webpack.prod.config.js
@@ -7,12 +7,10 @@ config.output.path = require('path').resolve('./assets/dist')
 
 config.plugins = config.plugins.concat([
     new BundleTracker({filename: './opentech/static_compiled/app/webpack-stats-prod.json'}),
-
-    // removes a lot of debugging code in React
-    new webpack.DefinePlugin({
-        'process.env': {
-            'NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify('production')
-        }}),
+    new webpack.EnvironmentPlugin({
+        NODE_ENV: 'production',
+        API_BASE_URL: null ,
+    }),
 ])
 
 config.optimization = {
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f24c1d4debbff7d6956d5bd90318a5d8050f0ea8..20f5a048a4296536a409c71a33cc00f095e9ab04 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -3065,25 +3065,6 @@
                 "domelementtype": "1"
             }
         },
-        "dotenv": {
-            "version": "5.0.1",
-            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/dotenv/-/dotenv-5.0.1.tgz",
-            "integrity": "sha512-4As8uPrjfwb7VXC+WnLCbXK7y+Ueb2B3zgNCePYfhxS1PYeaO1YTeplffTEcbfLhvFNGLAz90VvJs9yomG7bow=="
-        },
-        "dotenv-expand": {
-            "version": "4.2.0",
-            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/dotenv-expand/-/dotenv-expand-4.2.0.tgz",
-            "integrity": "sha1-3vHxyl1gWdJKdm5YeULCEQbOEnU="
-        },
-        "dotenv-webpack": {
-            "version": "1.6.0",
-            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/dotenv-webpack/-/dotenv-webpack-1.6.0.tgz",
-            "integrity": "sha512-jTbHXmcVw3KMVhTdgthYNLWWHRGtucrADpZWwVCdiP+pCvuWvxLcUadwEnmz8Wqv/d2UAJxJhp1jrxGlMYCetg==",
-            "requires": {
-                "dotenv": "^5.0.1",
-                "dotenv-expand": "^4.0.1"
-            }
-        },
         "duplexer": {
             "version": "0.1.1",
             "resolved": "http://registry.npmjs.org/duplexer/-/duplexer-0.1.1.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index abcc5c13046fd4abf73bd0df29090dfa5a3f0145..d1dc670a25bdc1440792d8c521ab9a13fe41c74c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
         "@babel/polyfill": "^7.2.5",
         "@svgr/webpack": "^4.1.0",
         "del": "^3.0.0",
-        "dotenv-webpack": "^1.6.0",
         "gulp": "^4.0.0",
         "gulp-babel": "^8.0.0",
         "gulp-clean-css": "^3.10.0",