diff --git a/docs/source/contributing.rst b/docs/source/contributing.rst
index f0cb5bdb..d3376a30 100644
--- a/docs/source/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/source/contributing.rst
@@ -230,7 +230,14 @@ Running Google BigQuery Integration Tests
 You will need to create a Google BigQuery private key in JSON format in
 order to run Google BigQuery integration tests on your local machine and
 on Travis-CI. The first step is to create a `service account
-<https://console.developers.google.com/iam-admin/serviceaccounts/>`__.
+<https://console.cloud.google.com/iam-admin/serviceaccounts/>`__.
+
+To run the integration tests locally, set the following environment variables
+before running ``pytest``:
+
+#. ``GBQ_PROJECT_ID`` with the value being the ID of your BigQuery project.
+#. ``GBQ_GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS`` with the value being the *path* to
+   the JSON key that you downloaded for your service account.
 
 Integration tests are skipped in pull requests because the credentials that
 are required for running Google BigQuery integration tests are
@@ -248,8 +255,8 @@ gbq integration tests on a forked repository:
 
    - ``GBQ_PROJECT_ID`` with the value being the ID of your BigQuery project.
 
-   - ``SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY`` with the value being the contents of the JSON key
-     that you downloaded for your service account. Use single quotes around
+   - ``SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY`` with the value being the *contents* of the JSON
+     key that you downloaded for your service account. Use single quotes around
      your JSON key to ensure that it is treated as a string.
 
    For both environment variables, keep the "Display value in build log" option
diff --git a/pandas_gbq/tests/test_gbq.py b/pandas_gbq/tests/test_gbq.py
index 338d9b1e..fd976ee8 100644
--- a/pandas_gbq/tests/test_gbq.py
+++ b/pandas_gbq/tests/test_gbq.py
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 from pandas.compat.numpy import np_datetime64_compat
 
-PROJECT_ID = None
-PRIVATE_KEY_JSON_PATH = None
-PRIVATE_KEY_JSON_CONTENTS = None
 
 TABLE_ID = 'new_test'
 
@@ -66,10 +63,7 @@ def _get_dataset_prefix_random():
 
 
 def _get_project_id():
-    if _in_travis_environment():
-        return os.environ.get('GBQ_PROJECT_ID')
-    else:
-        return PROJECT_ID
+    return os.environ.get('GBQ_PROJECT_ID')
 
 
 def _get_private_key_path():
@@ -77,16 +71,16 @@ def _get_private_key_path():
         return os.path.join(*[os.environ.get('TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR'), 'ci',
                               'travis_gbq.json'])
     else:
-        return PRIVATE_KEY_JSON_PATH
+        return os.environ.get('GBQ_GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS')
 
 
 def _get_private_key_contents():
-    if _in_travis_environment():
-        with open(os.path.join(*[os.environ.get('TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR'), 'ci',
-                                 'travis_gbq.json'])) as f:
-            return f.read()
-    else:
-        return PRIVATE_KEY_JSON_CONTENTS
+    key_path = _get_private_key_path()
+    if key_path is None:
+        return None
+
+    with open(key_path) as f:
+        return f.read()
 
 
 def _test_imports():