diff --git a/src/shell/plugins/cray_pals.c b/src/shell/plugins/cray_pals.c
index be58cb41..94e248bf 100644
--- a/src/shell/plugins/cray_pals.c
+++ b/src/shell/plugins/cray_pals.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <argz.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
 
 #include <jansson.h>
 
@@ -143,6 +144,10 @@ struct task_placement {
     int **task_ids;
 };
 
+/* If true, don't edit LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+ */
+static int no_edit_env;
+
 /*
  * Return a 'struct hostlist' containing the hostnames of every shell rank.
  */
@@ -683,6 +688,44 @@ static int get_pals_ports (flux_shell_t *shell, json_int_t jobid)
     return rc;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Remove the first occurrence of 'path' from the environment variable
+ * 'name', which is assumed to be a colon-separated list.
+ * Return -1 on error, 0 if found and removed.
+ */
+static int remove_path_from_cmd_env (flux_cmd_t *cmd,
+                                     const char *name,
+                                     const char *path)
+{
+    const char *searchpath;
+    char *argz;
+    size_t argz_len;
+    int rc = -1;
+
+    if (!(searchpath = flux_cmd_getenv (cmd, name))
+        || argz_create_sep (searchpath, ':', &argz, &argz_len) != 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    char *entry = NULL;
+    while ((entry = argz_next (argz, argz_len, entry))) {
+        if (!strcmp (entry, path)) { // match!
+            argz_delete (&argz, &argz_len, entry);
+            if (argz && strlen (argz) > 0) {
+                argz_stringify (argz, argz_len, ':');
+                if (flux_cmd_setenvf (cmd, 1, name, "%s", argz) < 0)
+                    goto out;
+            }
+            else
+                flux_cmd_unsetenv (cmd, name);
+            rc = 0;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+out:
+    free (argz);
+    return rc;
+}
+
 /*
  * Set job-wide environment variables for LibPALS
  */
@@ -763,6 +806,18 @@ static int libpals_task_init (flux_plugin_t *p,
         return -1;
     }
     shell_trace ("set PALS_RANKID to %d", task_rank);
+
+    if (!no_edit_env) {
+        const char *pmipath = flux_conf_builtin_get ("pmi_library_path",
+                                                     FLUX_CONF_INSTALLED);
+        char *cpy = NULL;
+        char *dir;
+        if (pmipath && (cpy = strdup (pmipath)) && (dir = dirname (cpy))) {
+            while (remove_path_from_cmd_env (cmd, "LD_LIBRARY_PATH", dir) == 0)
+                shell_trace ("edit LD_LIBRARY_PATH remove %s", dir);
+        }
+        free (cpy);
+    }
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -831,9 +886,18 @@ int flux_plugin_init (flux_plugin_t *p)
 
     shell_debug ("enabled");
 
+    // If -o cray-pals.no-edit-env is was speciifed set a flag for later
+    no_edit_env = 0;
+    (void)flux_shell_getopt_unpack (shell,
+                                    "cray-pals",
+                                    "{s?i}",
+                                    "no-edit-env", &no_edit_env);
+
     if (flux_plugin_add_handler (p, "shell.init", libpals_init, NULL) < 0
         || flux_plugin_add_handler (p, "task.init", libpals_task_init, NULL) < 0)
         return -1;
 
     return 0;
 }
+
+// vi:ts=4 sw=4 expandtab
diff --git a/t/t1001-cray-pals.t b/t/t1001-cray-pals.t
index beb6233f..cf33136b 100755
--- a/t/t1001-cray-pals.t
+++ b/t/t1001-cray-pals.t
@@ -89,6 +89,45 @@ test_expect_success 'shell: cray-pals unsets PALS variables when inactive' '
 	test_must_fail flux run -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME -o pmi=none \
 		printenv PMI_CONTROL_PORT)
 '
+test_expect_success 'shell: cray-pals edits LD_LIBRARY_PATH=pmidir:/noexist:pmidir' '
+	pmidir=$(dirname $(flux config builtin pmi_library_path)) &&
+	flux run -o pmi=cray-pals -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME \
+	    --env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$pmidir:/noexist:$pmidir \
+	    printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH >libedit.out &&
+	cat >libedit.exp <<-EOT &&
+	/noexist
+	EOT
+	test_cmp libedit.exp libedit.out
+'
+test_expect_success 'shell: cray-pals removes LD_LIBRARY_PATH=pmidir' '
+	pmidir=$(dirname $(flux config builtin pmi_library_path)) &&
+	test_must_fail flux run -o pmi=cray-pals \
+	    -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME --env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$pmidir \
+	    printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+'
+# In anticipation of flux-framework/flux-core#5714
+test_expect_success 'shell: cray-pals removes LD_LIBRARY_PATH=pmidir if added by simple pmi' '
+	test_must_fail flux run -o pmi=simple,cray-pals \
+	    -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME --env=-LD_LIBRARY_PATH \
+	    printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+'
+test_expect_success 'shell: cray-pals ignores LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/noexist' '
+	flux run -o pmi=cray-pals -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME \
+	    --env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/noexist \
+	    printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH >libedit2.out &&
+	cat >libedit2.exp <<-EOT &&
+	/noexist
+	EOT
+	test_cmp libedit2.exp libedit2.out
+'
+test_expect_success 'shell: the -o cray-pals=no-edit-env shell option works' '
+	pmidir=$(dirname $(flux config builtin pmi_library_path)) &&
+	flux run -o pmi=cray-pals -o cray-pals.no-edit-env \
+	    -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME --env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$pmidir \
+	    printenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH >libedit3.out &&
+	echo $pmidir >libedit3.exp &&
+	test_cmp libedit3.exp libedit3.out
+'
 
 test_expect_success 'shell: pals shell plugin sets environment' '
 	environment=$(flux run -o userrc=$(pwd)/$USERRC_NAME -N1 -n1 env) &&