diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index af91c4e1586..b83aa2fca80 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -360,6 +360,8 @@ Release 2.0.1-alpha - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-3605. Block mistakenly marked corrupt during edit log catchup
     phase of failover. (todd and Brahma Reddy Battula via todd)
 
+    HDFS-3690. BlockPlacementPolicyDefault incorrectly casts LOG. (eli)
+
   BREAKDOWN OF HDFS-3042 SUBTASKS
 
     HDFS-2185. HDFS portion of ZK-based FailoverController (todd)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockPlacementPolicyDefault.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockPlacementPolicyDefault.java
index 97e3e111bc5..cf482b8c042 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockPlacementPolicyDefault.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockPlacementPolicyDefault.java
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
 
-import org.apache.commons.logging.impl.Log4JLogger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
@@ -42,7 +43,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.net.NodeBase;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 
-/** The class is responsible for choosing the desired number of targets
+/**
+ * The class is responsible for choosing the desired number of targets
  * for placing block replicas.
  * The replica placement strategy is that if the writer is on a datanode,
  * the 1st replica is placed on the local machine, 
@@ -52,9 +54,13 @@ import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
  */
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
 public class BlockPlacementPolicyDefault extends BlockPlacementPolicy {
+
+  private static final Log LOG =
+    LogFactory.getLog(BlockPlacementPolicyDefault.class.getName());
+
   private static final String enableDebugLogging =
     "For more information, please enable DEBUG log level on "
-    + ((Log4JLogger)LOG).getLogger().getName();
+    + LOG.getClass().getName();
 
   private boolean considerLoad; 
   private boolean preferLocalNode = true;