diff --git a/jobs/rocoto/prep.sh b/jobs/rocoto/prep.sh
index 48e5a46160..bbde68377d 100755
--- a/jobs/rocoto/prep.sh
+++ b/jobs/rocoto/prep.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ export jobid="${job}.$$"
 source "${HOMEgfs}/ush/jjob_header.sh" -e "prep" -c "base prep"
 
 # Strip 'enkf' from RUN for pulling data
-local RUN_local="${RUN/enkf}"
+RUN_local="${RUN/enkf}"
 
 ###############################################################
 # Set script and dependency variables