Today the House passed a $6.4 billion multiyear school construction bill for a 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduce energy consumption and create healthier, cleaner learning environments. The bill create will grants and low interest loans so school districts can build and modernize schools to make them safer and more energy-efficient.

The plan faced Republican opposition over the cost of the bill, which was made a part of Obama’s economic stimulus plan, passed 275-155.

Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., sponsor of the legislation, said, “It will give much needed money to our schools struggling with huge budget deficits and deteriorating facilities while encouraging energy efficency and creating jobs for Americans that cannot be shipped overseas.”

Included in Obama’s much-discussed stimulus package is $140 million for volcano monitoring. The benefits  of volcano monitoring include helping geologists understand the inner workings of volcanoes, providing warnings of eruptions, as well as creating new jobs.

However, after President Obama’s speech on the economy last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal spoke out against  the stimulus bill, using volcano monitoring an example of what he considers to be gross overspending.

“Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington,” Jindal said.

In May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, killing 57 people and was the deadliest and financially devasting   volcanic eruption in U.S. history. Most recently in late 2004 and early 2005, Mt. St. Helens sent plumes of steam and ash thousands of feet into the air.

Most active volcanoes in the U.S. are in Alaska, where an eruption occurs almost every year. Researchers are currently monitoring Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano, which is predicted to go off again within a few months. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth and has been erupting continuously since 1983.

“We are one of the most volcanically active countries in the world,” says Marianne Guffanti, senior vulcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. “We have nearly 170 volcanoes that are either active or capable of reawakening.

Good news for the renewable energy industry as today, the Senate voted to pass the President’s economic stimulus plan. But there’s another round of voting in both houses of Congress before the president can sign it into law. During last night’s prime time televised news conference, President Obama openly discussed his plan with reporters, specifically referencing his investment plans for the renewable energy industry.

Obama said, “More than 90 percent of the jobs created by this plan will be in the private sector. These will not be make-work jobs, but jobs doing the work that America desperately needs done — jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, and repairing our dangerously deficient dams and levees so that we don’t face another Katrina,” he said. “They will be jobs building the wind turbines and solar panels and fuel-efficient cars that will lower our dependence on foreign oil.”

When the media pressed Obama about specific points in his spending plan, specifically – his plans for green investments, Obama laid down the law.

“Why would that be a waste of federal money?” asked Obama. “We’re creating jobs immediately by weatherizing homes – and we’re saving money for taxpayers $2 billion when it comes to federal buildings.”

“We can have a respectful debate about whether or not we should be involved in energy policy, but don’t call it wasteful spending,” he said.

With more than 11 million Americans now out of work, Obama spent much of the news conference defending a package that Republicans say is too big.

Final passage is expected tomorrow and Obama has said he wants a final bill signed by the end of this week.

As part of the proposed $825 billion dollar stimulus package, House Democrats revealed the amount of money set aside for renewable energy and efficiency. That amount is about 54 billion of those dollars.

The largest portion, $11 billion, would go towards creating a smart grid, which is way short of the $400 billion Al Gore suggested as a reasonable figure. Here’s a list of some of the larger energy incentives.

* $11 billion for investment in smart-grid technologies
* $8 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy and transmission
* $6.9 billion for energy efficiency help to state and local governments
* $6.7 billion for retrofits to federal buildings
* $6.2 billion for home weatherization, targeted at low-income families
* $2.4 billion for carbon sequestration
* $2 billion for loans guarantees and grants to automobile battery-makers

There are quite a few other energy-related items in the bill, including incentives for electric and alternative-fuel vehicles. The Appropriations Committee has a summary (PDF) of the bill on their website.