ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accrued expenses consisted of the following:



	December 31, 2018		December 31, 2017
Inventory-related accruals	$	846,270	$	1,151,810
Inventory intermediation arrangements	249,442		244,287
Excise and sales tax payable	149,358		118,515
Accrued salaries and benefits	89,308		58,589
Accrued capital expenditures	59,938		17,342
Accrued transportation costs	53,579		64,400
Accrued utilities	49,851		42,189
Renewable energy credit and emissions obligations	27,052		26,231
Accrued refinery maintenance and support costs	19,046		35,674
Accrued interest	6,796		9,466
Environmental liabilities	6,502		7,968
Customer deposits	5,594		16,133
Other	16,302		8,255
Total accrued expenses	$	1,579,038	$	1,800,859

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 Inventory Intermediation Agreements with J. Aron. As of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, a liability is recognized for the Inventory Intermediation Agreements and is recorded at market price for the J. Aron owned inventory held in the Company’s storage tanks under the Inventory 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 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.

Early Return of Railcars

On September 30, 2018, the Company agreed to voluntarily return a portion of railcars under an operating lease in order to rationalize certain components of its railcar fleet based on prevailing market conditions in the crude oil by rail market. Under the terms of the lease amendment, the Company will pay agreed amounts in lieu of satisfaction of return conditions (the “Early Termination Penalty”) and will pay a reduced rental fee over the remaining term of the lease. Certain of these railcars are idle and the remaining railcars were taken out of service during the fourth quarter of 2018 and subsequently fully returned to the lessor. As a result, the Company recognized an expense of $52,313 for year ended December 31, 2018 included within Cost of sales consisting of (i) a $40,313 charge for the Early Termination Penalty and (ii) a $12,000 charge related to the remaining lease payments associated with the portion of railcars within the amended lease, that were idled and out of service as of December 31, 2018. As of December 31, 2018, $7,106 of these payments are anticipated to be paid within the next twelve months and are included within the inventory-related accruals category above.