diff --git a/.kokoro/release/common.cfg b/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
index 8f195a45b..1c816dd3d 100644
--- a/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
+++ b/.kokoro/release/common.cfg
@@ -229,6 +229,26 @@ env_vars: {
 
 
 
+#############################################
+# this section merged from .kokoro/common_env_vars.cfg using owlbot.py
+
+env_vars: {
+    key: "PRODUCT_AREA_LABEL"
+    value: "observability"
+}
+env_vars: {
+    key: "PRODUCT_LABEL"
+    value: "logging"
+}
+env_vars: {
+    key: "LANGUAGE_LABEL"
+    value: "java"
+}
+
+###################################################
+
+
+
 #############################################
 # this section merged from .kokoro/common_env_vars.cfg using owlbot.py
 
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3dbd0087f..420eabe59 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     <easymock.version>5.1.0</easymock.version>
     <truth.version>1.1.3</truth.version>
     <logging.version>3.15.2</logging.version>
-    <slf4j.version>1.7.36</slf4j.version>
+    <slf4j.version>2.0.7</slf4j.version>
     <google.api-common.version>1.10.1</google.api-common.version>
   </properties>