* Greenland publishes Cairn Energy's oil spill plan
* Acts to calm environmental fears over Arctic exploration
* Says authorities can take action 5 km around rig
COPENHAGEN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Greenland has published British explorer Cairn Energy's oil spill response plan in a bid to calm fears about Arctic exploration after environmental group Greenpeace demanded that it be made public.
It also said it had new options to act against any unlawful attempts by protesters to interfere with oil rigs.
Greenpeace, which has tried to disrupt drilling off Greenland, argues that cleaning up a spill in the Arctic waters there would be extremely difficult.
Greenland's government had initially withheld the oil spill contingency plan drawn up by Cairn because it feared activists could launch more actions against rigs if it were published.
Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark, said the Danish foreign ministry had determined that under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea the Greenland authorities can take action within a radius of 5 km from a safety zone around oil rigs.
"These new options available will make it easier for the authorities to take measures in relation to unlawful actions against the safety measures of the drilling rigs," the Greenland government said in a statement on its website.
