RHEL Satellite Server 5.5 and EPEL Sync Issue (gzip vs. bz2 with manifest.xml)

Client is stuck on RHEL Satellite Server 5.5 (Way EOL) and runs EPEL as a child channel. Long not updated. Other variables, Python 2.6, Redhat 6.9 But when trying to update the EPEL repo (spacewalk-repo-sync) it fails at the end with a gzip error (file not a gzipped file) The manifest for epel is bz2 (updateinfo.xml.bz2). (I edited the error handler in gzip.py to dump the file name). See references to it googling, but no clean solution or work around. (beside upgrading Satellite which is not an option right now). Any thoughts? A different repo that uses gzip perhaps? Just a little stuck here and wouldn't be surprised if I was being myopic. Works fine with IUS and Redhats standard channels. Thanks.