diff --git a/org.eclipse.stem.internal.data.geography.earthscience/src/org/eclipse/stem/internal/data/geography/specifications/EarthPropertyFileSpecification.java b/org.eclipse.stem.internal.data.geography.earthscience/src/org/eclipse/stem/internal/data/geography/specifications/EarthPropertyFileSpecification.java
index 45a1326..ec74693 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.stem.internal.data.geography.earthscience/src/org/eclipse/stem/internal/data/geography/specifications/EarthPropertyFileSpecification.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.stem.internal.data.geography.earthscience/src/org/eclipse/stem/internal/data/geography/specifications/EarthPropertyFileSpecification.java
@@ -97,10 +97,12 @@
 		
 		// Parse the dublin core to extract the valid year
 		Date validYear = this.getDublinCore().getValidStartDate();
-		Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
-		c.setTime(validYear);
-		value.setValidYear(c.get(Calendar.YEAR));
-
+		if(validYear != null) {
+			Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
+			c.setTime(validYear);
+			value.setValidYear(c.get(Calendar.YEAR));
+		}
+		
 		StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(eaData.getEarthScienceData(),",");
 
 		int pos = 0;