“If people aren’t looking closely, it blends into the natural landscape.”

That was the triumphant description of the first piece of land “officially certified as reclaimed from any of Alberta’s oil sands” – it’s good enough to impress the government, but even the Syncrude spokester admits the claim won’t stand up to scrutiny.

All this was reported this week in a celebratory story in the Globe and Mail:Piece of oil sands first to be certified as reclaimed.

The Globe reported that Syncrude and “government officials” thought this announcement was “a milestone in easing concerns over the megaprojects.”

Not hardly.