diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e4d81b2327..7c8ec5ff5b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -66,12 +66,12 @@ if(pugixml_FOUND)
   message(STATUS "Found pugixml: ${pugixml_DIR}")
 else()
   message(STATUS "Did not find pugixml, will use submodule instead")
+
 #===============================================================================
 # libMesh Unstructured Mesh Support
 #===============================================================================
 if(libmesh)
   find_package(LIBMESH REQUIRED)
-  list(APPEND cxxflags ${LIBMESH_CFLAGS})
 endif()
 
 #===============================================================================
@@ -389,9 +389,6 @@ endif()
 if (MPI_ENABLED)
   target_compile_definitions(libopenmc PUBLIC -DOPENMC_MPI)
 endif()
-if (libmesh)
-  target_compile_definitions(libopenmc PRIVATE LIBMESH)
-endif()
 
 # Set git SHA1 hash as a compile definition
 if(GIT_FOUND)
@@ -416,11 +413,8 @@ if(dagmc)
 endif()
 
 if(libmesh)
-  if (debug)
-    target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH_DEVEL)
-  else()
-    target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH)
-  endif()
+  target_compile_definitions(libopenmc PRIVATE LIBMESH)
+  target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH)
 endif()
 
 #===============================================================================
diff --git a/cmake/Modules/FindLIBMESH.cmake b/cmake/Modules/FindLIBMESH.cmake
index 96ece4a0a8..2359f904d7 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/FindLIBMESH.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/FindLIBMESH.cmake
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
 # Finds the libMesh installation using CMake's PkgConfig
 # module and creates a libmesh imported target
 
-find_path(LIBMESH_PC NAMES libmesh-opt.pc
-          HINTS ${LIBMESH_DIR} $ENV{LIBMESH_ROOT}
-          PATHS ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-          PATH_SUFFIXES lib/pkgconfig pkgconfig
-          NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
-
 include(FindPkgConfig)
 set(ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} "$ENV{PKG_CONFIG_PATH}:${LIBMESH_PC}")
 pkg_check_modules(LIBMESH REQUIRED libmesh IMPORTED_TARGET)
-pkg_check_modules(LIBMESH_DEVEL REQUIRED libmesh-devel IMPORTED_TARGET)
 
-message(STATUS "Found LIBMESH in ${LIBMESH_PC}")
+find_path(LIBMESH_PC NAMES libmesh.pc
+          HINTS ${LIBMESH_LIBDIR}
+          PATHS ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+          PATH_SUFFIXES lib/pkgconfig pkgconfig
+          NO_DEFAULT_PATH)