[KSteffensen]

Well, depends on how it's done. A wood burning stove in a regular one family house, where daddy is more concerned about the cost of the firewood than its water content is terrible yes.

A power/heating plant with proper monitoring of the combustion and filtering of the smoke is definitely no worse than a coal burning plant.

[mcjiggerlog]

No worse than a coal burning plant is not exactly a high bar for being good for your health.

[KSteffensen]

In the common case, yes, agreed. But again, it depends on how it's done. A lot can be done to increase efficiency and filter the smoke properly. I'm no expert but my understanding is that the technology in this area is well-established. Coal can be burned cleanly, and it's even economic to do so since more energy is extracted per unit fuel.

The main reason for refurbishing coal plants for other fuels or shutting them down entirely is that coal is terrible regarding CO2 footprint.