Judge E. Jeffrey Burke issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday and ordered the defendants into court Aug. 23 to explain what has happened on the $746,000 project that started late last month.

Attorney James McKiernan filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of Michael Gosnell, a certified asbestos supervisor who lives four blocks from where asbestos water pipes were removed.

"The way they are handling the asbestos is a crime under federal and state law," McKiernan said. "This isn't a routine case. It is kind of a scandal ... emitting airborne asbestos fibers and particles not only into the air but also into the soil, groundwater and into your water system."

Grover Beach, the lead agency on the project, is investigating the allegations and plans to respond in court.

"We need to try to substantiate some of the claims," said Bruce Ambo, Grover's community development director. "We need to figure out what it all means.

"It is my understanding that we have that kind of pipe all over the Five Cities area," he said, noting that Grover is the lead agency for The Pike project.

Tommy Pappas, job foreman for San Luis Obispo-based Souza, said everything was done legally by people licensed to handle, transport and dispose of asbestos piping.

"We will fax all our stuff to the city lawyers so they can show it to the judge," said Pappas, noting that the asbestos pipe work lasted four days and ended July 30. "It was a minor part of the job."

The lawsuit will delay the project, he said. "It could be a week to three months. Who really knows?"

The project will add about 2 1/2 inches of pavement to The Pike between Halcyon Road in Arroyo and South 13th Street at the Grover-Oceano border. The job also involves drainage improvements and repaving some side streets.

"For as heavily traveled as it is, The Pike is one of the worst streets in the county," Ambo said about the road that has countless potholes, is so poorly marked that it is impossible to see the center line when it rains, has inadequate drainage and mostly lacks sidewalks on one side of the road.

Gosnell -- a veteran of 36 years in construction, including 20 years at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, was still unhappy Thursday because asbestos material remained exposed.

"It is right in the roadway, where cars can drive over it and kids can walk through it and drag it all around," said Gosnell, a Grover resident since 1994.

The asbestos site is within 500 feet of a school, across the street from a busy 7-Eleven and surrounded by housing. The school was not in session this summer.

This location, Gosnell wrote Aug. 6 in a signed declaration, "creates a risk of cancer and other asbestos-related diseases both for the workers and the residents in the vicinity."

The construction project needs to be shut down and an emergency evaluation conducted on containing and cleaning up the asbestos, he added.

The allegations ...

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants:

* "Willfully and criminally disregarded numerous federal and state environmental laws" regulating how to protect workers and the public when asbestos, which is no longer used, is removed and replaced.

* Failed to properly notify the federal Environmental Protection Agency that the work involved asbestos.

* Ignored reporting and record-keeping requirements for storing, transferring and disposing of asbestos.

The suit asks the court to have the work stopped until the asbestos is cleaned up, have the defendants pay plaintiff Michael Gosnell's attorney fees and provide any other relief that seems appropriate.

The suit was filed against contractor Souza Construction, the cities of Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo County, the countywide Air Pollution Control District, Caltrans, the countywide Council of Governments and Bruce Ambo, Grover's community development director.