def METHOD_NAME(conf_path):
    if os.path.isabs(conf_path):
        json_conf_path = conf_path
    else:
        json_conf_path = os.path.join(get_project_base_directory(), conf_path)
    try:
        with open(json_conf_path) as f:
            return json.load(f)
    except BaseException:
        raise EnvironmentError(
            "loading json file config from '{}' failed!".format(json_conf_path)
        )