diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index f78c22f3..4035d7af 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ PlatformIO Core 4
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 * Fixed UnicodeDecodeError on Windows when network drive (NAS) is used (`issue #3417 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3417>`_)
+* Fixed an issue when saving libraries in new project results in error "No option 'lib_deps' in section" (`issue #3442 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3442>`_)
 
 4.3.1 (2020-03-20)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/platformio/commands/lib.py b/platformio/commands/lib.py
index e3b415d5..d08529fd 100644
--- a/platformio/commands/lib.py
+++ b/platformio/commands/lib.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ from platformio.package.manifest.parser import ManifestParserFactory
 from platformio.package.manifest.schema import ManifestSchema
 from platformio.proc import is_ci
 from platformio.project.config import ProjectConfig
+from platformio.project.exception import InvalidProjectConfError
 from platformio.project.helpers import get_project_dir, is_platformio_project
 
 try:
@@ -180,7 +181,10 @@ def lib_install(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
             if project_environments and env not in project_environments:
                 continue
             config.expand_interpolations = False
-            lib_deps = config.get("env:" + env, "lib_deps", [])
+            try:
+                lib_deps = config.get("env:" + env, "lib_deps")
+            except InvalidProjectConfError:
+                lib_deps = []
             for library in libraries:
                 if library in lib_deps:
                     continue
diff --git a/tests/test_projectconf.py b/tests/test_projectconf.py
index 0e68f2d3..4d832c97 100644
--- a/tests/test_projectconf.py
+++ b/tests/test_projectconf.py
@@ -121,11 +121,19 @@ def test_defaults(config):
     assert config.get_optional_dir("core") == os.path.join(
         os.path.expanduser("~"), ".platformio"
     )
+    assert config.get("strict_ldf", "lib_deps", ["Empty"]) == ["Empty"]
     assert config.get("env:extra_2", "lib_compat_mode") == "soft"
     assert config.get("env:extra_2", "build_type") == "release"
     assert config.get("env:extra_2", "build_type", None) is None
     assert config.get("env:extra_2", "lib_archive", "no") is False
 
+    config.expand_interpolations = False
+    with pytest.raises(
+        InvalidProjectConfError, match="No option 'lib_deps' in section: 'strict_ldf'"
+    ):
+        assert config.get("strict_ldf", "lib_deps", ["Empty"]) == ["Empty"]
+    config.expand_interpolations = True
+
 
 def test_sections(config):
     with pytest.raises(ConfigParser.NoSectionError):