For the first time under President Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium-boron mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists' vows to sue over the plan they insist will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction.

The mining project can quadruple the United States' lithium supply — but conservationists say it may also drive the endangered Tiehm's buckwheat to extinction.

Federal land managers gave their final approval Thursday for a massive lithium-boron mine in Southern Nevada, becoming the first domestic lithium project to get full regulatory approval under the Biden Administration.