West Virginia will soon agree to allow Consol Energy to resume pumping water from its Blacksville No. 2 mine into Dunkard Creek, where mine discharges have been blamed for contributing to stream conditions that caused the death of thousands of fish, mussels and other aquatic life in September.

Pittsburgh-based Consol asked the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for permission to resume the discharges, which contain high concentrations of dissolved solids, or TDS, because water in the active Blacksville No. 2 mine has been rising and could soon affect the safety of miners underground.

Joe Cerenzia, a Consol spokesman, said if water in the mine continues to rise it could create unsafe conditions and within a "few weeks" force the company to idle the mine, which employs approximately 600.

"We're still working on a final plan to begin discharges with West Virginia, and it's going to be soon because it's getting to be a critical time," Mr. Cerenzia said.

At the suggestion of the West Virginia DEP, Consol agreed to shut down its discharges from its Blacksville No. 2 mine, an active mining operation, on Sept. 17, to determine what effect that would have on the then-ongoing fish kill.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the TDS in the mine discharges created the kind of brackish water conditions in the creek in which toxic algae was able to thrive and bloom, killing gill-breathing aquatic species in about 43 miles of the creek along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.

Kathy Cosco, a West Virginia DEP spokeswoman, said the department is "working out the final details" on a discharge agreement that could be announced today. The EPA has also been involved in the discussions.

"We need to finalize the conditions under which pumping can resume and flesh them out," Ms. Cosco said. "The department understands the concerns of the miners and we understand the concerns of people along Dunkard Creek that have concerns about water quality. We're making sure we address both."

Mr. Cerenzia said negotiators are discussing a variety of options for regulating the discharges of millions of gallons of mine water into the creek so that it does not produce conditions conducive to the growth of golden algae, which has affected lakes and rivers throughout the South and Southwest but had never been found in the Mid-Atlantic region prior to the Dunkard Creek fish kill.

Environmentalists have suggested that Consol should be required to truck the mine water to the Monongahela River or to a treatment facility that could remove the TDS before the water is discharged, but Mr. Cerenzia said the high volume of mine water would make that unfeasible.

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