"From their financials, it would appear all they really needed was less than 3 quarters of burn to get through... and that wouldn't even add up to $10 million. So why do they need $30? If they did an acquisition, it might make sense. If they brought in a whole slew of drills, it might make sense. If they hired another 100 or 200 guys and bought equipment to fast track McWatters' development, it might make sense. But I don't see indication of any of that"

Be careful to separate the net loss of the company from its cash requirements.  We will likely lose $5-$10 million from operations in Q1-Q3, and this will require $4-$7 million in cash to cover (since some of this loss is non-cash amortization), but we will also need further cash to finish McWatters.  Thus the $30 million (less fees and up-front interest = less than $25 million to spend).

From the news report on April 2nd, Liberty stated that it would cost around $19 million in pre-production capital to get McWatters ready.  How much of this they have spent as of today is hard to say, but surely they will need several million more before it is ready to produce... then even more to continue to develop the shaft.