diff --git a/resources/chart/templates/opentelemetry.yml b/resources/chart/templates/opentelemetry.yml
index ef7b41d..c2c9726 100644
--- a/resources/chart/templates/opentelemetry.yml
+++ b/resources/chart/templates/opentelemetry.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
-{{- if ne .Release.Namespace "local"}}
+{{- if and (ne .Release.Namespace "local") .Values.opentelemetryCollector }}
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/resources/chart/vars/local/values.yml b/resources/chart/vars/local/values.yml
index 89e37b2..142ae12 100644
--- a/resources/chart/vars/local/values.yml
+++ b/resources/chart/vars/local/values.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,3 @@ portalDebug: 'True'
 portalEndpoint: 'portal.minikube.test:30008'
 # portalReplicaCount is the replica count for the Portal deployment
 portalReplicaCount: 1
-
-# opentelemetryLocalEndpoint gives the uri for the local opentelemetry collector
-# in the same namespace
-opentelemetryCollector: ""
diff --git a/resources/chart/vars/values.yml b/resources/chart/vars/values.yml
index b371bb0..7281efc 100644
--- a/resources/chart/vars/values.yml
+++ b/resources/chart/vars/values.yml
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@ globusRedirectURIScheme: 'https'
 portalPort: '5050'
 
 # opentelemetryCollector gives the uri for the opentelemetry collector
-opentelemetryCollector: "https://otel-collector.telemetry.slateci.io:443"
+opentelemetryCollector: ''