diff --git a/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/Environment.java b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/Environment.java
index 0aa3434c2..f0b7cc178 100644
--- a/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/Environment.java
+++ b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/Environment.java
@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ public final class Environment
     private static synchronized Properties retrieveEnvironmentVariables()
         throws IOException, ExecException
     {
-        final Properties properties = new Properties();
         final String data = getEnvironmentText();
 
+        final Properties properties = new Properties();
         final BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader( new StringReader( data ) );
         String var = null;
         String line;