Converting coal or oil shale to useable energy requires large quantities of water. There is not enough water in the Upper Colorado Basin near oil shale deposits to permit a large shale oil industry, unless water rights were purchased from farmers and ranchers. Local agriculture could then suffer drastically. By contrast, there is enough water for widespread conversion of coal in the Northern Great Plains to both electricity and synthetic fuel. However, most of the water is not near most of the coal. Either the water will have to be piped to the coal, at great expense, or the coal must be shipped to the water, whether within or outside the Northern Great Plains States.