diff --git a/Git/Project.cs b/Git/Project.cs
index 0e9437e..5158c72 100644
--- a/Git/Project.cs
+++ b/Git/Project.cs
@@ -16,11 +16,16 @@ public Project(string gitPath)
             GitPath = gitPath;
         }
 
-        public void Init(string repository)
+        public void Init(string repository, string authorName, string authorEmail)
         {
             if (!Directory.Exists(GitPath)) Directory.CreateDirectory(GitPath);
             if (!File.Exists(Path.Join(GitPath, ".git", "config"))) RunCommand($"init");
 
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_AUTHOR_NAME", authorName);
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL", authorEmail);
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME", authorName);
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL", authorEmail);
+
             RunCommandIgnoreErrors($"config remove-section remote.origin");
             RunCommand($"remote add origin --mirror=fetch {repository}");
         }
@@ -97,16 +102,12 @@ public string Describe(string options)
             throw new ApplicationException("Unable to describe commit");
         }
 
-        public string CommitTree(string authorName, string authorEmail, string treeRef, IEnumerable<string> parentRefs, string message)
+        public string CommitTree(string treeRef, IEnumerable<string> parentRefs, string message)
         {
             var tempFile = Path.GetTempFileName();
             File.WriteAllText(tempFile, message);
             try
             {
-                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_AUTHOR_NAME", authorName);
-                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL", authorEmail);
-                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME", authorName);
-                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL", authorEmail);
                 var parents = String.Join(" ", parentRefs.Select(parentRef => $"-p {parentRef}"));
                 foreach (var line in GetCommandOutput($"commit-tree {treeRef} {parents} -F {tempFile}"))
                 {
diff --git a/Program.cs b/Program.cs
index f23cd58..45059f3 100644
--- a/Program.cs
+++ b/Program.cs
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ static async Task AsyncMain(IConfigurationRoot config)
 
             Console.WriteLine("Preparing repository...");
             var git = new Git.Project(GetGitPath());
-            git.Init($"git@github.com:{gitHubConfig["organization"]}/{gitHubConfig["repository"]}.git");
+            git.Init($"git@github.com:{gitHubConfig["organization"]}/{gitHubConfig["repository"]}.git", gitHubConfig["mergeAuthorName"], gitHubConfig["mergeAuthorEmail"]);
             git.Fetch();
             git.ResetHard();
             git.Clean();
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ static async Task AsyncMain(IConfigurationRoot config)
                         git.GetAbbreviatedCommit($"pull/{pr.Number}/head")
                     )))
                 );
-                var newMergeBranchCommit = git.CommitTree(gitHubConfig["mergeAuthorName"], gitHubConfig["mergeAuthorEmail"], $"{autoMergeCommit}^{{tree}}", mergeBranchParents, newMergeBranchMessage);
+                var newMergeBranchCommit = git.CommitTree($"{autoMergeCommit}^{{tree}}", mergeBranchParents, newMergeBranchMessage);
                 git.SetBranchRef(gitHubConfig["mergeBranch"], newMergeBranchCommit);
                 git.Checkout(gitHubConfig["mergeBranch"]);
                 var newMergeBranchVersion = String.Format(