When that was brought up, (I'm thinking of zguy's posts) I think that was the context... that while it wasn't new money (or additional) that it was still "like" found money when it came to the company being able to continue funding operations and remaining debt-free.
I believe the context had more to do with attitude than with balance sheet, because for the most part the WY leases were the least discussed and least acknowledged asset Hemi held. Most shareholders knew next-to-nothing about it, and so in their minds it was seldom thought of when generally considering assets.
Also, it was considered how much Hemi originally obtained the leases for vs. how much they received in payment for them. There was a substantial difference between those two numbers.
I don't remember seeing a post about assigning a SP equivalent value to the transaction. I couldn't go along with that for the same reasons you cited. Hemi held the leases too long for the FMV to never have been considered on the balance sheet.
I totally support your factual statement about it being a move in the ledger (cash rec'd vs. current FMV at the time of sale).