ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Inventory-related accruals	$	810,027	$	548,800
Inventory intermediation arrangements	225,524		252,380
Accrued transportation costs	89,830		91,546
Excise and sales tax payable	86,046		34,129
Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations	70,158		19,472
Accrued utilities	44,190		25,192
Accrued interest	28,934		22,313
Accrued construction in progress	33,610		7,400
Accrued salaries and benefits	17,466		61,011
Customer deposits	9,215		20,395
Environmental liabilities	8,882		2,178
Other	38,847		32,619
Total accrued expenses	$	1,462,729	$	1,117,435

The Company has the obligation to repurchase certain intermediates and finished products that are held in the Company’s refinery storage tanks at the Delaware City and Paulsboro refineries in accordance with the A&R Intermediation Agreements with J. Aron. As of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, a liability is recognized for the inventory supply and intermediation arrangements and is recorded at market price for the J. Aron owned inventory held in the Company's storage tanks under the A&R Intermediation Agreements, with any change in the market price being recorded in cost of sales.

The Company is subject to obligations to purchase Renewable Identification Numbers ("RINs") required to comply with the Renewable Fuels Standard. The Company's overall RINs obligation is based on a percentage of domestic shipments of on-road fuels as established by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). To the degree the Company is unable to blend the required amount of biofuels to satisfy its RINs obligation, RINs must be purchased on the open market to avoid penalties and fines. The Company records its RINs obligation on a net basis in Accrued expenses when its RINs liability is greater than the amount of RINs earned and purchased in a given period and in Prepaid expenses and other current assets when the amount of RINs earned and purchased is greater than the RINs liability. In addition, the Company is subject to obligations to comply with federal and state legislative and regulatory measures to address environmental compliance and greenhouse gas and other emissions, including AB 32 in California. These requirements include incremental costs to operate and maintain our facilities as well as to implement and manage new emission controls and programs, which have contributed to the increase in accrued environmental liabilities and emission obligations following the Torrance Acquisition.