diff --git a/core/dbt/task/debug.py b/core/dbt/task/debug.py
index 748de5a38be..35f259c6ee4 100644
--- a/core/dbt/task/debug.py
+++ b/core/dbt/task/debug.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def __init__(self, args, config):
         self.profiles_dir = getattr(self.args, 'profiles_dir',
                                     dbt.config.PROFILES_DIR)
         self.profile_path = os.path.join(self.profiles_dir, 'profiles.yml')
-        self.project_path = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'dbt_project.yml')
+        self.project_path = os.path.join(args.project_dir or os.getcwd(), 'dbt_project.yml')
         self.cli_vars = dbt.utils.parse_cli_vars(
             getattr(self.args, 'vars', '{}')
         )
diff --git a/test/integration/049_dbt_debug_test/test_debug.py b/test/integration/049_dbt_debug_test/test_debug.py
index bdd4639e5bc..d2493eae152 100644
--- a/test/integration/049_dbt_debug_test/test_debug.py
+++ b/test/integration/049_dbt_debug_test/test_debug.py
@@ -103,3 +103,12 @@ def test_postgres_badproject(self):
                 self.assertIn('ERROR invalid', line)
             elif line.strip().startswith('profiles.yml file'):
                 self.assertNotIn('ERROR invalid', line)
+
+    @use_profile('postgres')
+    def test_postgres_invalid_project_dir(self):
+        self.use_default_project()
+        self.run_dbt(['debug', '--project-dir', 'nopass'])
+        splitout = self.capsys.readouterr().out.split('\n')
+        for line in splitout:
+            if line.strip().startswith('dbt_project.yml file'):
+                self.assertIn('ERROR not found', line)
\ No newline at end of file