Merge pull request #69 from anirudh-eka/take_out_ref_to_env_in_tests

Take out ref to env in tests except for environment_service_spec
Revert "Take out ref to env in tests except for environment_service_spec"
Merge pull request #70 from anirudh-eka/revert-69-take_out_ref_to_env_in_tests

Revert "Take out ref to env in tests except for environment_service_spec...
fix backward compatability bugs for hashtag/hashtags env variable