ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	December 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
Inventory-related accruals	$	1,151,810	$	810,027
Inventory intermediation arrangements	244,287		225,524
Excise and sales tax payable	118,515		86,046
Accrued transportation costs	64,400		89,830
Accrued salaries and benefits	58,589		17,466
Accrued utilities	42,189		44,190
Accrued refinery maintenance and support costs	35,674		28,670
Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations	26,231		70,158
Accrued capital expenditures	17,342		33,610
Customer deposits	16,133		9,215
Accrued interest	9,466		28,934
Environmental liabilities	7,968		8,882
Other	8,255		10,177
Total accrued expenses	$	1,800,859	$	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 December 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 Intermediation Agreements, with any change in the market price being recorded in Cost of products and other.

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 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, including regulations in the state of California pursuant to Assembly Bill 32(“AB32”), to address environmental compliance and greenhouse gas and other emissions. These requirements include incremental costs to operate and maintain our facilities as well as to implement and manage new emission controls and programs. Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations fluctuate with the volume of applicable product sales and timing of credit purchases.