diff --git a/dockerfiles/README.md b/dockerfiles/README.md
index da98e79e..ea6e19c9 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/README.md
+++ b/dockerfiles/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ e`
 ### Automated
 The steps above have been rolled into a script: `/app/startup_script.sh`, which just assumes the DB env variables have been set, and defaults the rest to Kovan according to `environments/staging.toml`. This can be called with something like:
 
-`docker run -d -e DATABASE_NAME=vulcanize_pubic -e DATABASE_HOSTNAME=localhost -e DATABASE_PORT=5432 -e DATABASE_USER=vulcanize -e DATABASE_PASSWORD=vulcanize ./startup_script.sh`
+`docker run -d -e DATABASE_NAME=vulcanize_public -e DATABASE_HOSTNAME=localhost -e DATABASE_PORT=5432 -e DATABASE_USER=vulcanize -e DATABASE_PASSWORD=vulcanize [container name] ./startup_script.sh`
 
 ### Logging
 When running, vDB services log to `/vulcanizedb.log`.
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/shared/constants/external.go b/pkg/transformers/shared/constants/external.go
index 154f56f8..d18270be 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/shared/constants/external.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/shared/constants/external.go
@@ -30,11 +30,12 @@ func getEnvironmentString(key string) string {
 	return value
 }
 
+// Returns an int from the environment, defaulting to 0 if it does not exist
 func getEnvironmentInt64(key string) int64 {
 	initConfig()
 	value := viper.GetInt64(key)
 	if value == -1 {
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("No environment configuration variable set for key: \"%v\"", key))
+		return 0
 	}
 	return value
 }