Aleta Borrud has been a resident of Rochester Minnesota for the past 27 years. She is a 20 year contributor and active supporter of multiple environmental organizations. Borrud left a long medical career as a physician to focus on activism and organizing. Unsurprisingly, a particular area of interest for Aleta is health care access for farmers. She believes that farmers, small business owners and gig economy workers deserve affordable health care and, to that end supports a public option. She is committed, also, to ending the public health emergency that is gun violence.
Aleta Borrud’s comments to MN350 on a just transition to a clean energy future:
“Governor Walz’s current proposal to spend $276 million on housing is an opportunity to invest in net zero emissions construction for low income residents. The legislature, in conjunction with progressive environmental partners, should request that all construction be part of meeting our goals for reducing emissions. In addition, MN has thousands of units of publicly owned housing, and resources should be directed to rehabilitation and retrofitting for net-zero emissions. If using public investment, MN must ensure that contracts & hires are directed to those underrepresented in the construction & trades industry. The building and trades unions have Registered Apprentice Programs which have commitments to training women and people of color. This could be a win-win for not only improving housing stock but also providing high paying employment.”
“Some of the greatest poverty is in rural Minnesota. Monies should be made available to support the development of locally owned and managed solar resources, as public utilities, for smaller, rural communities. Finally, our rural population is getting older, with more chronic illness, and more difficulty accessing social services. It is vitally important that there is investment in public transport. Thus in addition to urban rail projects which are very successful, it would be important to support provision of low emission transit vehicles and transit systems in rural areas.”
