Two conservation groups filed notice on July 19 of their plan to sue the Trump Administration over the dunes sagebrush lizard.
Defenders of Wildlife and Center for Biological Diversity claim the lizard's habitat is at risk due to the oil and gas drilling and sand mining projects in Texas and New Mexico.
The groups believe the administration has failed to protect the lizard, and wants the animal to be listed as an endangered species.
Stephen Robertson, the Executive Vice President of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, says there are differing opinions on whether those looking after the lizards should be on the local or federal level.
"There are other groups out there that don't think the states can handle that kind of aspect," said Robertson. "We very much think that that's the right place for those efforts to be, people that really deal with local communities local habitats and understand them."
Robertson says the association is currently working on an updated plan for the lizards, but the group still wants to file a lawsuit over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not listing the lizard as threatened or endangered.
Under the law, the service is required to evaluate petitions and issue a 90-day finding to see if the listing is warranted. Then if the initial finding is positive, the service must decide within 12 months whether or not it will list the species.
According to the conservation groups, the service has now missed both of these deadlines. It now has 60 days to respond to the groups to avoid litigation.
For more information on the dunes sagebrush lizard, you can click here.