emacs doesn't inherit PATH from environment

[Larry Evans]

When executing a Makefile or invoking eshell, the PATH is not the same
as when running from a terminal window.  Even when I modify the
PATH in the emacs initialization code in ~/emacs.d/init.common.el,
the executables in the PATH are *not* found.

For example, in a terminal:

evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$ echo $PATH
/home/evansl/anaconda3/bin:/home/evansl/miniconda3/bin:/home/evansl/.nvm/versions/node/v7.7.1/bin:/home/evansl/dwnlds/depot_tools/depot_tools:/home/evansl/dwnlds/gsrc.top/install/bin:/home/evansl/bin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/sbin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$ which pdf2txt.py
/home/evansl/anaconda3/bin/pdf2txt.py
evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$

However, in emacs eshell with the PATH set in ~/emacs.d/init.common.el:

Welcome to the Emacs shell

~/.emacs.d $ echo $PATH
/home/evansl/anaconda3/bin;/home/evansl/miniconda3/bin;/home/evansl/dwnlds/depot_tools/depot_tools:/home/evansl/dwnlds/gsrc.top/install/bin:/home/evansl/bin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/sbin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
~/.emacs.d $ which pdf2txt.py
which: no pdf2txt.py in 
(/home/evansl/anaconda3/bin;/home/evansl/miniconda3/bin;/home/evansl/dwnlds/depot_tools/depot_tools:/home/evansl/dwnlds/gsrc.top/install/bin:/home/evansl/bin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/sbin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin)
~/.emacs.d $ ls -ld /home/evansl/anaconda3/bin/pdf2txt.py
-rwxrwxr-x   1 evansl         evansl       3436 2018-02-12 06:18 
/home/evansl/anaconda3/bin/pdf2txt.py
~/.emacs.d $

My emacs version and OS:

evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$ emacs --version
GNU Emacs 24.5.1
Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GNU Emacs comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
You may redistribute copies of Emacs
under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file named COPYING.
evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$ uname -a
Linux lje-OptiPlex-9020 4.4.0-112-generic #135-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 19 
11:48:36 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
evansl@lje-OptiPlex-9020:~$

How can I get emacs to find pdf2txt.py?

TIA.

-regards,
Larry