I'm having trouble getting an environmental variable out of apache config. (don't ask why it's being done this way, I didn't originally code it)

This is what I have in the apache config.

<Location "/var/www">
    SetHandler python-program
    PythonHandler mod_python.publisher
    PythonOption MYSQL_PWD ###########
    PythonDebug On
</Location>

This is the problem code...

#this is the problem code in question.
def index(req):
    req.add_common_vars()
    os.environ["MYSQL_PWD"] = req.subprocess_env["MYSQL_PWD"] 
    req.content_type = "text/html"

    statText = getStatText()

here is the traceback I'm getting from executing this.

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1537, in   HandlerDispatch
  default=default_handler, arg=req, silent=hlist.silent)

File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1229, in _process_target
result = _execute_target(config, req, object, arg)

 File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/importer.py", line 1128, in _execute_target
 result = object(arg)

File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/publisher.py", line 213, in handler
published = publish_object(req, object)

File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/publisher.py", line 425, in publish_object
return publish_object(req,util.apply_fs_data(object, req.form, req=req))

File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mod_python/util.py", line 554, in apply_fs_data
return object(**args)

File "/var/www/admin/Stat.py", line 299, in index
os.environ["MYSQL_PWD"] = req.subprocess_env["MYSQL_PWD"]

KeyError: 'MYSQL_PWD'