diff --git a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/populate-secrets.sh b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/populate-secrets.sh
index 6bfffa19f..30b4fa78c 100755
--- a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/populate-secrets.sh
+++ b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/populate-secrets.sh
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@ function now { date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" | tr -d '\n' ;}
 function msg { println "$*" >&2 ;}
 function println { printf '%s\n' "$(now) $*" ;}
 
-if [[ -z "${SECRET_PROJECT}" ]]
-then
-  SECRET_PROJECT=cloud-sdk-release-custom-pool
+# Override to declare the GCP project that holds the secrets to fetch
+if [[ -z "${SECRET_MANAGER_PROJECT_ID}" ]]; then
+  msg "SECRET_MANAGER_PROJECT_ID is not set in environment variables, using default"
+  SECRET_MANAGER_PROJECT_ID="cloud-devrel-kokoro-resources"
 fi
 
 # Populates requested secrets set in SECRET_MANAGER_KEYS
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ do
   msg "Retrieving secret ${key}"
   "${GCLOUD_COMMANDS[@]}" \
     secrets versions access latest \
-    --project "${SECRET_PROJECT}" \
+    --project "${SECRET_MANAGER_PROJECT_ID}" \
     --secret $key > \
     "$SECRET_LOCATION/$key"
   if [[ $? == 0 ]]; then
diff --git a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/release/common.cfg b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
index 802cad7b3..9a3c3fd01 100644
--- a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
+++ b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 env_vars: {
-  key: "SECRET_PROJECT"
+  key: "SECRET_MANAGER_PROJECT_ID"
   value: "cloud-sdk-release-custom-pool"
 }
\ No newline at end of file