diff --git a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/AmazonEMRCluster.java b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/AmazonEMRCluster.java
index 5ff2d2e..99f9715 100644
--- a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/AmazonEMRCluster.java
+++ b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/AmazonEMRCluster.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import static com.ontology2.centipede.shell.ExitCodeException.EX_UNAVAILABLE;
 
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@
 import com.amazonaws.services.elasticmapreduce.model.StepConfig;
 import com.amazonaws.services.simpleworkflow.model.ExecutionStatus;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 import com.ontology2.centipede.shell.ExitCodeException;
 import com.ontology2.haruhi.flows.Flow;
@@ -120,7 +122,7 @@ public void runFlow(MavenManagedJar jar, Flow f,List<String> flowArgs) throws Ex
                 steps.add(new StepConfig(
                         "main"
                         ,new HadoopJarStepConfig(jarLocation)
-                            .withArgs(j.getStepArgs(flowArgs)))
+                            .withArgs(j.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs)))
                 );
             } else {
                 throw new RuntimeException("Could not process step of type "+that.getClass());
@@ -135,4 +137,8 @@ public void runFlow(MavenManagedJar jar, Flow f,List<String> flowArgs) throws Ex
         RunJobFlowResult result=emrClient.runJobFlow(that);
         pollClusterForCompletion(result);
     }
+
+    private Map<String, Object> emptyMap() {
+        return Maps.newHashMap();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/LocalCmdCluster.java b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/LocalCmdCluster.java
index 2fab2ff..150e467 100644
--- a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/LocalCmdCluster.java
+++ b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/LocalCmdCluster.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.lang.ProcessBuilder.Redirect;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.io.CharStreams;
 import com.ontology2.centipede.shell.ExitCodeException;
 import com.ontology2.haruhi.flows.Flow;
@@ -80,9 +82,13 @@ public void runFlow(MavenManagedJar jar, Flow f,List<String> flowArgs) throws Ex
     private void runStep(MavenManagedJar jar, List<String> flowArgs, FlowStep that) throws Exception {
         if(that instanceof JobStep) {
             JobStep jobStep=(JobStep) that;
-            this.runJob(jar, jobStep.getStepArgs(flowArgs));
+            this.runJob(jar, jobStep.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs));
         } else {
             throw new RuntimeException("Could not process step of type "+that.getClass());
         }
     }
+    
+    private Map<String, Object> emptyMap() {
+        return Maps.newHashMap();
+    }
 };
diff --git a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/SpringStep.java b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/SpringStep.java
index 68d9512..1f4df48 100644
--- a/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/SpringStep.java
+++ b/haruhi/src/main/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/SpringStep.java
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package com.ontology2.haruhi.flows;
 
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -12,6 +14,7 @@
 import org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 
 public abstract class SpringStep extends FlowStep {
     private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(SpringStep.class);
@@ -21,8 +24,8 @@ public SpringStep(List<String> argDefinitions) {
         this.argDefinitions=argDefinitions;
     }
     
-    public List<String> getStepArgs(List<String> flowArgs) {
-        SpringStepContext stepContext=new SpringStepContext(flowArgs);
+    public List<String> getStepArgs(Map<String,Object> local,List<String> flowArgs) {
+        SpringStepContext stepContext=new SpringStepContext(flowArgs,local);
         ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
         List<String> stepArgs=Lists.newArrayList();
         
@@ -37,21 +40,27 @@ public List<String> getStepArgs(List<String> flowArgs) {
     };
     
     public List<String> getStepArgs(String... flowArgs) {
-        return getStepArgs(Arrays.asList(flowArgs));
+        return getStepArgs(new HashMap<String,Object>(),Arrays.asList(flowArgs));
     };
     
     public class SpringStepContext {
         private final List<String> pos;
+        private final Map<String,Object> local;
 
-        public SpringStepContext(List<String> pos) {
+        public SpringStepContext(List<String> pos, Map<String, Object> local) {
             super();
             this.pos = pos;
+            this.local = local;
         }
         
         public List<String> getPos() {
             return pos;
         }
         
+        public Map<String,Object> getLocal() {
+            return local;
+        }
+        
         //
         // right now hardcoded to the HDFS root
         //
diff --git a/haruhi/src/test/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/TestFlowBeans.java b/haruhi/src/test/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/TestFlowBeans.java
index f0a0e42..e4a4a2e 100644
--- a/haruhi/src/test/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/TestFlowBeans.java
+++ b/haruhi/src/test/java/com/ontology2/haruhi/flows/TestFlowBeans.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@
 import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.ontology2.haruhi.JobApp;
 
 @RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@@ -31,7 +33,7 @@ public class TestFlowBeans {
         {
             assertTrue(steps.get(0) instanceof SpringStep);
             SpringStep step0=(SpringStep) steps.get(0);
-            List<String> args=step0.getStepArgs(flowArgs);
+            List<String> args=step0.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs);
             
             assertEquals(4,args.size());
             
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ public class TestFlowBeans {
         {
             assertTrue(steps.get(1) instanceof SpringStep);
             SpringStep step1=(SpringStep) steps.get(1);
-            List<String> args=step1.getStepArgs(flowArgs);
+            List<String> args=step1.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs);
             
             assertEquals(4,args.size());
             
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ public class TestFlowBeans {
         {
             assertTrue(steps.get(2) instanceof SpringStep);
             SpringStep step2=(SpringStep) steps.get(2);
-            List<String> args=step2.getStepArgs(flowArgs);
+            List<String> args=step2.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs);
             
             assertEquals(4,args.size());
             
@@ -73,7 +75,7 @@ public class TestFlowBeans {
         {
             assertTrue(steps.get(3) instanceof SpringStep);
             SpringStep step2=(SpringStep) steps.get(3);
-            List<String> args=step2.getStepArgs(flowArgs);
+            List<String> args=step2.getStepArgs(emptyMap(),flowArgs);
             
             assertEquals(5,args.size());
             
@@ -85,4 +87,8 @@ public class TestFlowBeans {
             assertEquals("/preprocessed/1942-12-07-00-00/",args.get(i++));
         }
     }
+
+    private Map<String,Object> emptyMap() {
+        return Maps.newHashMap();
+    }
 }