Dusk unexpectedly accessing two databases in same test

My dusk test is accessing two different databases.

I'd like it to only access one.

Any help would be appreciated!

Details:

I have two databases: one for testing (test_db) and one for production (prod_db).

My .env file specifies DB_DATABASE=prod_db.

My .env.dusk.local file specifies DB_DATABASE=test_db.

I call php artisan dusk --env=dusk.local for this test.

When my test calls factory(User::class)->create(), the record is entered into the test_db.

But when the same test then calls $browser->visit('/login') and types and submits email and password, it is searching prod_db.

Any ideas what might be going on?

My test class:

<?php

namespace Tests\Browser;

use App\User;
use Tests\DuskTestCase;
use Laravel\Dusk\Browser;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\DatabaseMigrations;

class ExampleTest extends DuskTestCase
{
    use DatabaseMigrations;

    public function testBasicExample()
    {
        $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) {

            $user = factory(User::class)->create([
                'name' => 'Amy Ames',
                'email' => '[email protected]',
                'password' => \Hash::make('password')
            ]);        

            // THIS PASSES
            $this->assertDatabaseHas('users', ['email' => $user->email]);
            
            // THIS PRINTS "test_db", AS SPECIFIED IN .env.dusk.local
            echo "\n" . env('DB_DATABASE') . "\n";            
            
            // THIS FAILS WATING FOR LOCATION.
            // ERROR MESSAGE ON SCREENSHOT = 
            //     "These credentials do not match our records."
//     $browser->visit('/login')
//              ->type('email', '[email protected]')
//              ->type('password', 'password')
//              ->click('@login-submit')
//              ->waitForLocation('/dashboard')
//              ->assertSee('Amy Ames')
//              ->assertSee("Dashboard works!");

            // THIS PASSES, BUT THE USER John Doe IS IN MY "prod_db" DATABASE, AS 
            // SPECIFIED IN .env
            $browser->visit('/login')
                ->type('email', '[email protected]')
                ->type('password', 'password')
                ->click('@login-submit')
                ->waitForLocation('/dashboard')
                ->assertSee('John Doe')
                ->assertSee("Dashboard works!");

        });
    }
}