diff --git a/packages/bigquery/benchmark/bench.js b/packages/bigquery/benchmark/bench.js
index 726ab12ceda..b982586d314 100644
--- a/packages/bigquery/benchmark/bench.js
+++ b/packages/bigquery/benchmark/bench.js
@@ -19,14 +19,16 @@
 const async = require('async');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const BigQuery = require('../src/index.js');
+const env = require('../../../system-test/env.js');
 
 if (process.argv.length < 3) {
-  throw `need query file; usage: \
-'${process.argv[0]} ${process.argv[1]} <queries.json>'`;
+  throw new Error(`need query file; ` +
+    `usage: '${process.argv[0]} ${process.argv[1]} <queries.json>'`);
 }
+
 var queryJson = fs.readFileSync(process.argv[2]);
 var queries = JSON.parse(queryJson);
-var client = new BigQuery();
+var client = new BigQuery(env);
 
 var doQuery = function(queryTxt, callback) {
   var startMilli = new Date().getTime();
@@ -39,28 +41,39 @@ var doQuery = function(queryTxt, callback) {
     useLegacySql: false
   };
 
-  client.createQueryStream(query)
-  .on('error', function(err) {
-    callback(err);
-  })
-  .on('data', function(row) {
-    if (numRows === 0) {
-      numCols = Object.keys(row).length;
-      timeFirstByteMilli = new Date().getTime() - startMilli;
-    } else if (numCols !== Object.keys(row).length) {
-      this.end();
-      callback(`query "${queryTxt}": wrong number of columns, \
-want ${numCols} got ${Object.keys(row).length}`);
-    }
-    numRows++;
-  })
-  .on('end', function() {
-    var timeTotalMilli = new Date().getTime() - startMilli;
-    console.log(`query ${queryTxt}: got ${numRows} rows, ${numCols} cols, \
-first byte ${timeFirstByteMilli / 1000} sec, \
-total ${timeTotalMilli / 1000} sec`);
-    callback(null);
-  });
+  client
+    .createQueryStream(query)
+    .on('error', callback)
+    .on('data', function(row) {
+      if (numRows === 0) {
+        numCols = Object.keys(row).length;
+        timeFirstByteMilli = new Date().getTime() - startMilli;
+      } else if (numCols !== Object.keys(row).length) {
+        this.end();
+
+        var receivedCols = Object.keys(row).length;
+        var error = new Error(
+          `query "${queryTxt}": ` +
+            `wrong number of columns, want ${numCols} got ${receivedCols}`
+        );
+
+        callback(error);
+      }
+      numRows++;
+    })
+    .on('end', function() {
+      var timeTotalMilli = new Date().getTime() - startMilli;
+
+      console.log(
+        `query ${queryTxt}:`,
+          `got ${numRows} rows,`,
+          `${numCols} cols,`,
+          `first byte ${timeFirstByteMilli / 1000} sec,`,
+          `total ${timeTotalMilli / 1000} sec`
+      );
+
+      callback(null);
+    });
 };
 
 async.eachSeries(queries, doQuery, err => {