diff --git a/extensions/freebase/src/com/google/refine/freebase/util/FreebaseUtils.java b/extensions/freebase/src/com/google/refine/freebase/util/FreebaseUtils.java
index 96a203fe9..82f98ac66 100644
--- a/extensions/freebase/src/com/google/refine/freebase/util/FreebaseUtils.java
+++ b/extensions/freebase/src/com/google/refine/freebase/util/FreebaseUtils.java
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ import com.google.refine.RefineServlet;
 import com.google.refine.oauth.Credentials;
 import com.google.refine.oauth.OAuthUtilities;
 import com.google.refine.oauth.Provider;
+import com.google.refine.preference.PreferenceStore;
 import com.google.refine.util.ParsingUtilities;
 
 public class FreebaseUtils {
@@ -109,7 +110,16 @@ public class FreebaseUtils {
     static final private int JUDGES = 4;
     
     public static final String API_KEY = "AIzaSyBAZ_EjMPKlOzyyZXv6JKXPPwJFISVji3M";
-            
+
+    public static String getApiKey() {
+        PreferenceStore ps = ProjectManager.singleton.getPreferenceStore();
+        String key = (String) ps.get("freebase.api.key");
+        if (key == null) {
+            key =  System.getProperty("refine.google_api_key");
+        }
+        return key == null ? API_KEY : key;
+    }
+
     private static String getUserInfoURL(String host) {
         // TODO: Needs to be upgraded to new APIs sandbox-freebase.com as host becomes v1sandbox as version
         return "http://api." + host + "/api/service/user_info";
@@ -353,7 +363,7 @@ public class FreebaseUtils {
         
         // We could use the javax.mail package, but it's actually more trouble than it's worth
         String body = "--" + BOUNDARY + "\n" 
-            + queryToMimeBodyPart("0", query, service_url, API_KEY)
+            + queryToMimeBodyPart("0", query, service_url, FreebaseUtils.getApiKey())
             + "\n--" + BOUNDARY + "\n" ;
         
         HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
@@ -427,7 +437,7 @@ public class FreebaseUtils {
     
         JSONObject params = new JSONObject();
         params.put("query",query);
-        params.put("key", API_KEY);
+        params.put("key", FreebaseUtils.getApiKey());
     
         JSONObject req1 = new JSONObject();
         req1.put("jsonrpc","2.0");    
@@ -476,7 +486,7 @@ public class FreebaseUtils {
     private static final HttpTransport HTTP_TRANSPORT = new NetHttpTransport();
     private static final JsonFactory JSON_FACTORY = new JacksonFactory();
     private static final FreebaseRequestInitializer REQUEST_INITIALIZER = 
-            new FreebaseRequestInitializer(FreebaseUtils.API_KEY);
+        new FreebaseRequestInitializer(FreebaseUtils.getApiKey());
     
     /**
      * Submit a single MQL read query via the standard Google client library
@@ -527,4 +537,4 @@ public class FreebaseUtils {
            return response;
     }
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/refine b/refine
index 18ac18366..fb5f66653 100755
--- a/refine
+++ b/refine
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ where [options] include:
 
   -m <memory> max memory heap size to use
      default: 1024M
-               
+
+  -k <google api key> a server API key for calling Google APIs
+
   -v <level> verbosity level [from low to high: error,warn,info,debug,trace]
      default: info
 
@@ -664,7 +666,11 @@ run() {
     if [ "$REFINE_HOST" ] ; then
         add_option "-Drefine.host=$REFINE_HOST"
     fi
-                    
+
+    if [ "$REFINE_GOOGLE_API_KEY" ] ; then
+        add_option "-Drefine.google_api_key=$REFINE_GOOGLE_API_KEY"
+    fi
+
     CLASSPATH="$REFINE_CLASSES_DIR${SEP}$REFINE_LIB_DIR/*"
 
     RUN_CMD="$JAVA -cp $CLASSPATH $OPTS com.google.refine.Refine"
@@ -701,7 +707,7 @@ broker_run() {
         add_option "-Drefine.autoreload=true -Dbutterfly.autoreload=true"
         add_option "-Drefine.development=true"
     fi
-                    
+
     add_option "-Drefine.webapp=broker/core"
     add_option "-Drefine.headless=true"
 
@@ -869,6 +875,7 @@ while [ $# -ne 0 ] ; do
     -w) shift; REFINE_WEBAPP="$1"; shift; continue;;
     -d) shift; REFINE_DATA_DIR="$1"; shift; continue;;
     -m) shift; REFINE_MEMORY="$1"; shift; continue;;
+    -k) shift; REFINE_GOOGLE_API_KEY="$1"; shift; continue;;
     -v) shift; REFINE_VERBOSITY="$1"; shift; continue;;
     -x) shift; REFINE_EXTRA_OPTS="$1"; shift; continue;;
     --debug) shift; add_option '-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=8000,server=y,suspend=n'; continue;;