diff --git a/packages/bazel/package.py b/packages/bazel/package.py
index 29564c82a67e307320f4df3110e4f9f3e38314f2..64df14b13074675a697b11db7f52d5d302b08c58 100644
--- a/packages/bazel/package.py
+++ b/packages/bazel/package.py
@@ -532,7 +532,10 @@ class Bazel(Package):
             # Increase verbosity of explanation,
             " --verbose_explanations"
             # Show (formatted) subcommands being executed
-            " --subcommands=pretty_print" " --jobs={0}".format(make_jobs),
+            " --subcommands=pretty_print"
+            # expose LD_LIBRARY_PATH (to fix protoc runtime error during build)
+            " --action_env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+            " --jobs={0}".format(make_jobs),
         )
 
     @run_before("install")