diff --git a/lib/haml/template.rb b/lib/haml/template.rb
index 1aa26a46..6455ada3 100644
--- a/lib/haml/template.rb
+++ b/lib/haml/template.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ module Haml
   end
 end
 
-if defined?(RAILS_ENV) && RAILS_ENV == "production"
+if Haml::Util.rails_env == "production"
   Haml::Template.options[:ugly] = true
 end
 
diff --git a/lib/haml/util.rb b/lib/haml/util.rb
index 4cf37213..16b2f5b4 100644
--- a/lib/haml/util.rb
+++ b/lib/haml/util.rb
@@ -146,6 +146,17 @@ module Haml
       return nil
     end
 
+    # Returns the environment of the Rails application,
+    # if this is running in a Rails context.
+    # Returns `nil` if no such environment is defined.
+    #
+    # @return [String, nil]
+    def rails_env
+      return Rails.env.to_s if defined?(Rails.root)
+      return RAILS_ENV.to_s if defined?(RAILS_ENV)
+      return nil
+    end
+
     # Returns an ActionView::Template* class.
     # In pre-3.0 versions of Rails, most of these classes
     # were of the form `ActionView::TemplateFoo`,
diff --git a/lib/sass/plugin/rails.rb b/lib/sass/plugin/rails.rb
index 8d4a5f40..0d2c6292 100644
--- a/lib/sass/plugin/rails.rb
+++ b/lib/sass/plugin/rails.rb
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ unless defined?(Sass::RAILS_LOADED)
   Sass::Plugin.options.merge!(:template_location => Haml::Util.rails_root + '/public/stylesheets/sass',
                               :css_location      => Haml::Util.rails_root + '/public/stylesheets',
                               :cache_location    => Haml::Util.rails_root + '/tmp/sass-cache',
-                              :always_check      => RAILS_ENV != "production",
-                              :full_exception    => RAILS_ENV != "production")
+                              :always_check      => Haml::Util.rails_env != "production",
+                              :full_exception    => Haml::Util.rails_env != "production")
 
   if defined?(ActionDispatch::Callbacks.to_prepare)
     # Rails >= 3.0.0