Marco Rubio, Environmental Groups Uniting for Gulf Coast Funding

It's not often you find Republicans and environmental groups working for the same goal, but as that noted conservative Bob Dylan once said, "Money doesn't talk, it screams."

And in this case, it's screaming about the aftermath of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

According to an article today in The Hill, the Environmental Defense Action Fund and the National Wildlife Federation are working with local officials on the Gulf Coast and federal officials such as Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to pass the Restore Act, which would direct 80 percent of funding from environmental fines and penalties toward a Gulf Coast recovery fund.

The lion's share of the funding would come from BP, which leased the rig that exploded April 20, 2010, and spewed millions of barrels of oil into Gulf waters and polluted miles of Gulf Coast shoreline.

Bills enacting the Restore Act are moving through the House and Senate, The Hill reports, and the money could be a big payoff for Gulf states and localities -- BP alone could be on the hook for from $5 billion to $21 billion for the Deepwater Horizon spill.

But if you think about it, the money's just icing on the cake.

We already got the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, after all.