diff --git a/control_plane/src/background_process.rs b/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
index fbd739ac9e..94666f2870 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ fn fill_remote_storage_secrets_vars(mut cmd: &mut Command) -> &mut Command {
 
 fn fill_env_vars_prefixed_neon(mut cmd: &mut Command) -> &mut Command {
     for (var, val) in std::env::vars() {
-        if var.starts_with("NEON_") {
+        if var.starts_with("NEON_PAGESERVER_") {
             cmd = cmd.env(var, val);
         }
     }
diff --git a/libs/utils/src/env_config.rs b/libs/utils/src/env.rs
similarity index 51%
rename from libs/utils/src/env_config.rs
rename to libs/utils/src/env.rs
index 4bafbe57a0..b3e326bfd0 100644
--- a/libs/utils/src/env_config.rs
+++ b/libs/utils/src/env.rs
@@ -1,22 +1,6 @@
-use std::{fmt::Display, str::FromStr};
+//! Wrapper around `std::env::var` for parsing environment variables.
 
-pub fn var_or_else<V, E, D>(varname: &str, default: D) -> V
-where
-    V: FromStr<Err = E>,
-    E: Display,
-    D: FnOnce() -> V,
-{
-    match std::env::var(varname) {
-        Ok(s) => s
-            .parse()
-            .map_err(|e| format!("failed to parse env var {varname}: {e:#}"))
-            .unwrap(),
-        Err(std::env::VarError::NotPresent) => default(),
-        Err(std::env::VarError::NotUnicode(_)) => {
-            panic!("env var {varname} is not unicode")
-        }
-    }
-}
+use std::{fmt::Display, str::FromStr};
 
 pub fn var<V, E>(varname: &str) -> Option<V>
 where
diff --git a/libs/utils/src/lib.rs b/libs/utils/src/lib.rs
index 673c48e450..cd5075613e 100644
--- a/libs/utils/src/lib.rs
+++ b/libs/utils/src/lib.rs
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ pub mod auth;
 // utility functions and helper traits for unified unique id generation/serialization etc.
 pub mod id;
 
-pub mod env_config;
 mod hex;
 pub use hex::Hex;
 
@@ -90,6 +89,8 @@ pub mod yielding_loop;
 
 pub mod zstd;
 
+pub mod env;
+
 /// This is a shortcut to embed git sha into binaries and avoid copying the same build script to all packages
 ///
 /// we have several cases:
diff --git a/pageserver/src/task_mgr.rs b/pageserver/src/task_mgr.rs
index f584f02e3c..d91fdf29a3 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/task_mgr.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/task_mgr.rs
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
 
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 
-use utils::env_config;
+use utils::env;
 use utils::id::TimelineId;
 
 //
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ impl FromStr for TokioRuntimeMode {
 
 static ONE_RUNTIME: Lazy<Option<tokio::runtime::Runtime>> = Lazy::new(|| {
     let thread_name = "pageserver worker";
-    let Some(mode) = env_config::var("NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME") else {
+    let Some(mode) = env::var("NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME") else {
         // If the env var is not set, leave this static as None.
         // The single_
         return None;
@@ -199,7 +199,6 @@ macro_rules! pageserver_runtime {
 pageserver_runtime!(COMPUTE_REQUEST_RUNTIME, "compute request worker");
 pageserver_runtime!(MGMT_REQUEST_RUNTIME, "mgmt request worker");
 pageserver_runtime!(WALRECEIVER_RUNTIME, "walreceiver worker");
-// if you change the number of worker threads please change the constant below
 pageserver_runtime!(BACKGROUND_RUNTIME, "background op worker");
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]