6. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Property and equipment consisted of the following (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2016			2015
Facilities and plant equipment	$	530,735		$	501,800
Land		7,771			7,541
Other equipment, vehicles and furniture		9,714			9,084
Construction in progress		29,393			23,579
		577,613			542,004
Accumulated depreciation		(112,423	)		(77,044	)
	$	465,190		$	464,960

Depreciation expense, including idled facilities, was $35,441,000, $23,524,000 and $12,712,000 for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. One of the Pacific Ethanol West Plants was idled for four months in 2014, as to which $699,000 of depreciation expense was recorded.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $1,970,000 related to the abandonment of certain accounting and information technology systems following the integration of its PE Central facilities.

For the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company capitalized interest of $1,307,000 related to its capital investment activities. Of this amount, approximately $640,000 related to project activity in the prior year, which the Company considered to be immaterial; therefore, this amount was corrected on a cumulative basis in the current period.