ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
Inventory-related accruals	$	797,959	$	810,027
Inventory intermediation arrangements	233,289		225,524
Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations	182,328		70,158
Excise and sales tax payable	98,524		86,046
Accrued transportation costs	80,882		89,830
Accrued refinery maintenance and support costs	38,285		28,670
Accrued utilities	35,563		44,190
Accrued interest	24,091		28,934
Accrued capital expenditures	21,942		33,610
Customer deposits	21,758		9,215
Accrued salaries and benefits	13,513		17,466
Environmental liabilities	9,538		8,882
Other	42,408		10,177
Total accrued expenses	$	1,600,080	$	1,462,729

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 March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, a liability is recognized for the inventory 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 Inventory Intermediation Agreements, with any change in the market price being recorded in cost of sales.

The Company is subject to obligations to purchase 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 our 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. Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations fluctuate with the volume of applicable product sales and timing of credit purchases.