diff --git a/src/addon/ESMPy/.gitignore b/src/addon/ESMPy/.gitignore
index 15e6c72411..c427f66ad7 100644
--- a/src/addon/ESMPy/.gitignore
+++ b/src/addon/ESMPy/.gitignore
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ PET*
 build
 dist
 doc/esmpy_doc
-src/ESMF/interface/esmfmkfile.py
 src/ESMPy.egg-info
 examples/data
 src/ESMF/test/data
diff --git a/src/addon/ESMPy/Makefile b/src/addon/ESMPy/Makefile
index caa773d0c3..d0018c2723 100644
--- a/src/addon/ESMPy/Makefile
+++ b/src/addon/ESMPy/Makefile
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ clean:
 		find . -name "*.python-version" -exec rm -f {} \;
 		rm -rf src/ESMF/test/regrid_from_file/data
 		rm -rf examples/data
-		rm src/ESMF/interface/esmfmkfile.py
 
 install:
 		python3 -m pip install --user .
diff --git a/src/addon/ESMPy/src/ESMF/interface/loadESMF.py b/src/addon/ESMPy/src/ESMF/interface/loadESMF.py
index ca5395f4a3..dfed9ae412 100644
--- a/src/addon/ESMPy/src/ESMF/interface/loadESMF.py
+++ b/src/addon/ESMPy/src/ESMF/interface/loadESMF.py
@@ -20,25 +20,10 @@
     raise ImportError('The CTypes library cannot be found.')
 
 esmfmk = None
-mked = False
-esmfmkfile_local = os.path.join(os.getcwd(),"src/ESMF/interface/esmfmkfile.py")
 try:
-    
-    if os.path.isfile(esmfmkfile_local):
-        from ESMF.interface.esmfmkfile import ESMFMKFILE as esmfmk
-        mked = True
+    esmfmk = os.environ["ESMFMKFILE"]
 except:
-    raise ImportError('The esmf.mk file could not be loaded.')
-else:
-    if not mked:
-        esmfmk = os.getenv("ESMFMKFILE")
-        if not esmfmk:
-            raise ImportError('The ESMFMKFILE was not set in the build, nor is it available as an environment variable.')
-        else:
-            with open(esmfmkfile_local, 'w') as emfl:
-                emfl.write('ESMFMKFILE = "'+esmfmk+'"')
-                emfl.close()
-
+    raise ImportError('The ESMFMKFILE environment variable is not available.')
 
 #### INVESTIGATE esmf.mk ######################################################